Photo: Collegiate Model School graduate Jessica Lavallee; His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada; Jennifer Rattray, Associate Vice-President Indigenous, Community and Government Relations, UWinnipeg; President and Vice-Chancellor, UWinnipeg Dr. Lloyd Axworthy; and the Honourable Kevin Chief, Manitoba Minister of Children and Youth Opportunities and UWinnipeg alumni, presenting star blanket, June 6, 2013.
WINNIPEG, MB – University of Winnipeg President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lloyd Axworthy was honoured to host His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, on campus today and share tangible ways in which UWinnipeg is working in partnership with First Nations, Metis and urban communities to help close the graduation gap and support success at university.
The Governor General toured UWinnipeg’s Collegiate Model School and participated in a round-table discussion with UWinnipeg faculty, staff and students and Indigenous partners focused on programs and approaches to education that are achieving results in supporting First Nations, Metis and Inuit students through to graduation.
UWinnipeg had the opportunity to highlight specific initiatives including:
- UWinnipeg’s Collegiate Model School, an initiative on campus that began in 2008 for students from Grade 9 to Grade 12 who are referred by inner city schools and community organizations and receive individualized learning plans so they can reach their full potential. To date, the Model School has resulted in 29 high school graduates. Of those, 10 are attending post-secondary institutions (6 at The University of Winnipeg), 10 more have applied to attend UWinnipeg for Sept 2013, and 9 are employed.
- In 2007, UWinnipeg created the Opportunity Fund, specifically to offer financial supports to Indigenous, new immigrant, refugee and inner-city youth to break down the financial barrier to post-secondary education. To date the Opportunity Fund has raised almost $2.9 million, provided 1,158 bursaries to students in need, and supported the graduation of 238 students from UWinnipeg.
- New this year within the Opportunity Fund, UWinnipeg introduced a Tuition Waiver Program for youth raised in the child welfare system, a first for a university in Canada. . Young people growing up in the child welfare system rarely graduate from high school, and only a small minority go on to university. UWinnipeg is committed to covering tuition costs for these youth and UWinnipeg partners with the Provincial child welfare authorities to cover living and other associated costs for these students.
- UWinnipeg’s Wii Chiiwaaknak Learning Centre opened in 2005.Wii Chiiwaakanak means “partners” in Anishinabemowin and is an outreach initiative that provides educational, learning and capacity building opportunities in Winnipeg’s inner city. The Centre is open six days a week and each month provides more than 1,000 community members with free access to the RBC Community Learning Commons, computer classes, and after school programs with nutritional snacks including a Pow wow club, Let’s Speak Ojibwe To Our Kids, Let’s Talk Science, preschool reading circle and cultural sharing circles focused on Aboriginal children, youth, and their families.
- The Innovative Learning Centre opened in 2006, and works with inner city elementary and secondary students with the hope that each child will see himself or herself as a high school graduate and then a university student. Programs include the popular Eco-Kids on Campus, the Eco-U Summer Camp, which has become the largest day camp in the inner city accommodating more than 1,200 children each summer, and the Shine On initiative.
- UWinnipeg offers a unique Urban and Inner-City Studies degree combining a traditional urban studies focus with courses that examine the urban Aboriginal experience, the immigrant and refugee experience, and the role of women. This program is located in the heart of Winnipeg’s North End on Selkirk Avenue, and UWinnipeg is actively partnering with the surrounding community to help redevelop and strengthen the neighbourhood. It also offers the Beginning University Successfully program, designed for students who don’t have a grade 12 diploma. This access program allows students to achieve Mature Student status by completing “Introduction to University” and “Academic Writing” in a single term.
“We are deeply honoured that His Excellency elected to visit our campus and engage in a meaningful dialogue about pathways into university that can work for students from diverse backgrounds,” said Axworthy. “UWinnipeg is located on Treaty One land, in the heart of the Metis Nation, and has one of the largest Indigenous student populations in the country at more than 12 percent. We know when properly supported with relevant and respectful programming, these students thrive, and are graduating to become tomorrow’s leaders.”
Learn more about Indigenous scholarship and programs at UWinnipeg at indigenous.uwinnipeg.ca.
MEDIA CONTACT
Diane Poulin, Communications Officer, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
