U of S trip shows students similarities between Europe, Saskatchewan

Watch above: students from the U of S learn about similarities between Saskatchewan and Norway

SASKATOON – A group of University of Saskatchewan (U of S) students from the northern part of the province are back home with new-found knowledge after experiencing another northern culture.

The ten-day trip to Kirkenes, Norway, a town in the far northeastern part of the country, allowed students to compare their northern Canada to the north in another part of the world, said Hayley Hesseln, a U of S professor who went on the trip.

“There’s a lot of a similarity in terms of resource use, transportation issues, culture, indigenous issues,” said Hesseln.

“We tend to think of ourselves as living in a big, huge world, but there are so many similarities,” said Helen Ben, a first year student from Loon Lake, who went on the trip. Most of the students who attended were from northern Saskatchewan communities.

The tour is part of the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development’s Master of Northern Governance and Development program. While in Norway, students completed in-class work and got hands-on experience in their field of study.

“Students who can go out and practice, and see it, are going to remember it, they learn it,” said Hesseln.

Ben, who is a member of the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation, said that she identified with the aboriginal people of Kirkenes. Noticing many similarities between her cultural experience and theirs has taught her lessons about how she believes northern Saskatchewan can flourish.

“We need to be diverse, we need to maintain our culture, we need to ensure that we work together,” said Ben.

“How do we learn from each other, how do we learn from different economies, how do we learn from different people and how do we bring that back and maybe apply some of those concepts,” she added.