Aboriginal graduates celebrated with traditional pow-wow, first of its kind in Regina

Aboriginal students in Regina have celebrated graduation differently this year, and it followed the calls to action put forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

READ MORE: Truth and Reconciliation: What comes next?

Hundreds of Grade 12 students from various schools in the city took part in a traditional ‘graduation’ pow-wow for the first time at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv).

“It’s very emotional, but it’s also very significant,” – Principal of Scott Collegiate, Shannon Fayant

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Principal of Scott Collegiate, Shannon Fayant, worked with FNUniv to organize the ceremony. The pow-wow featured traditional singers, dancers and drum groups.

Fayant said holding the graduation pow-wow at the university promotes the close relationship between the secondary and post-secondary systems, with an ’emphasis on accessibility and tradition’.

“We want our students to graduate Grade 12, but also our hope and our desire is that our students carry on and go into post-secondary,” she said.

Improvements to First Nations education makes up a large portion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations.

“It is fitting that this celebration of Indigenous students is taking place at the national post-secondary institution conceived to transcend the dark legacy of the residential school system,” president of FNUni, Dr. Mark Dockstator said.

READ MORE: Residential schools subjected students to disease, abuse, experiments: TRC report

The inaugural graduation pow-wow comes as a new study revealed non-aboriginal Canadians remain split on indigenous issues.

READ MORE: 87% of Canadians believe aboriginal people experience discrimination: survey

Some survey highlights include:

• 38% of non-aboriginals in Saskatchewan said they had positive relations with Aboriginal peoples.
• 60% of non-aboriginals in Saskatchewan said they had negative relations (more than any other region except the Northwest Territories)
• 57% of non-aboriginals in Saskatchewan said they had read or heard about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• 84% of non-aboriginals in Saskatchewan said they had read or heard about residential schools
• 18% of non-aboriginals in Saskatchewan hold the view that the residential school experience has no connection to current challenges in the aboriginal community
• 41% of non-aboriginals in Saskatchewan view aboriginal peoples themselves as the biggest obstacle to their achieving equality with other Canadians