Blair Stonechild

Blair Stonechild is a Cree-Saulteaux member of the Muscowpetung First Nation in Saskatchewan. He is a Professor of Indigenous Studies at the First Nations University of Canada. He coauthored Loy...

New Buffalo, The
The Struggle for First Nations Higher Education

Blair Stonechild

Post-secondary education is often referred to as "the new buffalo" and is a contentious but critically important issue for First Nations and the future of Canadian society. While First Nations maintain that access to and funding for higher education is an Aboriginal and Treaty right, the Canadian government insists that post-secondary education is a social program for which they have limited responsibility.

In The New BuffaloStonechild traces Aboriginal post secondary education policy from its earliest beginnings as a government tool for assimilation and cultural suppression to its development as a means of Aboriginal self determination and self-government. With first-hand
knowledge and personal experience of the Aboriginal education system, Stonechild goes beyond merely analyzing statistics and policy doctrine to reveal the shocking disparity between Aboriginal and Canadian access to education, the continued dominance of non-Aboriginal people over program development, and the ongoing struggle for recognition of First Nations–run institutions.


CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Early Policies regarding Indian Education
• Indian Higher Education and Integration
• Increasing First Nations Participation in Higher Education
• Student Demands and Funding Caps
• Gaining Control
• New Policy, New Hope?
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Appendices
• Index

Reviews

"Stonechild has been a part of the significant changes he writes about as both a student and a professor. He has given us a detailed, thoughtful analysis of an issue of great importance to us all. It is a story of resistance, persistence, political development, and political strategy."
—Jean Friesen, University of Manitoba, former Deputy Premier of Manitoba

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"The University of Manitoba Press should be commended for producing this important study. Stonechild provides a deeply researched and well- prepared contribution to both our understanding of Canadian post-secondary education policy and the ever present tug-and-pull toward recognizing aboriginal rights." – Chris Adams, Winnipeg Free Press, April 15, 2007