FNUC funding pulled

REGINA — The provincial government has cut funding to the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) — calling the problems there “deep and structural” — in a move that casts serious doubt on the institution’s future survival.

“This government has lost confidence in First Nations University. This chapter has come to a close,” Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris said late Wednesday afternoon, after emerging from a cabinet meeting at the legislature.

The decision means the government won’t give the university $5.2 million in the upcoming provincial budget.

But Norris said he is retaining control over some additional funds so students can finish the current academic term as well as complete upcoming summer courses. All provincial funding to the university will wrap up by August.

“We fund just over 20 per cent of First Nations University,” Norris said.

“It will be up to other funders to weigh in, as t hey will in the course of the coming hours and days. So the fate and future of the First Nations University, I won’t comment on,” Norris said, adding he communicated the province’s decision to federal Indian Affairs Minster Chuck Strahl.

The comments from Norris suggest not even a renewal of the board of governors at the controversy-plagued university would alter the government’s decision.

“I think, frankly, it’s time for the politicians to step back. I think it’s time for some of the academic leaders to step forward and, with due deliberation, actually begin to map out a future for these students and their programs,” Norris said.

He said the decision was made with the students’ best interests in mind.

“Frankly, they deserve better than they’ve been receiving,” Norris said.

“Our goal today is to ensure that the students actually have a much brighter future and clearer future, so that’s why we’re putting in place a student support team working in conjunction with the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan for the students,” Norris said.

The teams will begin work shortly and meet with students in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert and help them prepare for the coming academic year, the government said in a news release.

The provincial government’s announcement on Wednesday came as chiefs of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) debated the future of their university in a closed-door meeting at the Dakota Dunes Casino south of Saskatoon.

Strahl said he plans to “re-examine” funding FNUC if the provincial government pulls its funding.

“We’ve already taken some steps. This is a long-standing issue with some systemic problems,” Strahl said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Strahl has had more than one recent conversation with Norris, and agreed with Norris that reforms are urgently needed. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) is already withholding more than $1 million from FNUC, as it continues to be late on filing key progress reports.

When asked if it’s important for FNUC to exist, Strahl said “it has filled some gaps.” He questioned the continued need to pour millions of dollars into an institution with plummeting enrolment and a lack of accountability. He said the priority should be on increasing the education of aboriginal people, without specifically endorsing FNUC.

At the FSIN meetings Wednesday, FNUC students — who had bused in from Regina — walked out of the assembly angry their leaders could not agree on meaningful reforms for their school.

“There were two camps in there — one camp for us and one camp against us,” said FNUC Regina campus vice-president Cadmus Delorme. “It’s heart-breaking. We love our institution.”

Indian fine arts student Adam Martin said some chiefs “were out to protect their own cash cow.”

“It’s the same old crap. They’re basically back to playing politics.”

Delorme, Martin, FSIN Chief Guy Lonechild, FNUC board chair Chief Clarence Bellegarde and others on all sides of the debate had hoped the provincial government would have waited to pull millions in funding at least until the assembly had finished its debate. Norris made the announcement in Regina at 4 p.m., while the FSIN assembly went into the supper hour.

The seven-hour in-camera debate led off with five students, who received a standing ovation for their emotional 45-minute presentation. However, their central point — demanding the FNUC board of governors be dissolved — did not pass.

In the end, debate was apparently polarized between chiefs who wanted urgent, deep reforms and those who equated reform with surrendering to outside pressure, according to sources inside the meeting.

The chiefs have decided to await the results of another governance report to be submitted soon, and then hold more meetings in March to discuss it.

In his opening speech to delegates, Lonechild had urged them to open their minds and hearts to the students’ words.

After the meeting, Lonechild said “all around, it wasn’t a very positive day. We’re disappointed all around.”

Lonechild said relations are currently strained between First Nations, the federal government and the provincial government. He called the Norris announcement “premature,” but said he maintains a good individual relationship with Norris.

Bellegarde criticized Norris for making the announcement while they were discussing the matter in assembly. He said the university will find funding somehow, even without the millions from the provincial government.

Norris said uncertainty has been “swirling around” FNUC for years and only intensified with the recent firing of the institution’s former chief financial officer, Murray Westerlund.

A lawsuit filed by Westerlund alleges he was fired after presenting documents to FNUC’s audit committee outlining alleged misuse of funds and inappropriate expense claims.

Another factor in the decision to pull funding was the lateness of a report on governance at the university, Norris said.

There have been repeated calls during the past several years for a smaller, less political board of governors.

Norris called on the University of Regina, the degree-granting institution for the First Nations University, to help work out a plan for the students into the future. He also said the fate of First Nations University faculty is a question best addressed by the U of R.

University of Regina president Vianne Timmons is slated to speak at a news conference this morning.

(REGINA LEADER-POST)