Roughriders make major moves to assist Indigenous students

In the early 1980s, Jacqueline Ottmann moved away from Fishing Lake First Nation to begin university studies that proved to be most fruitful.

“It’s 2½ hours from Regina and two hours from Saskatoon, but it could have been 1,000 miles away from my home,” Dr. Ottmann, President of the First Nations University of Canada, recalled during a media conference on Wednesday.

“Everything felt so distant.”

Accordingly, Wednesday’s announcement hit home for Dr. Ottmann and several others who gathered at the FNUniv in Regina to accept and celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation’s $60,000 investment in Indigenous students.

The community-owned team’s one-time financial commitment will kick-start the newly announced “Away from Home” bursary ($40,000) and the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation Scholarship ($20,000).

Funding is derived from sales of the Roughriders’ Indigenous logo merchandise, which was designed by Chris Chipak of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

Proceeds are directed to the FNUniv and its students in accordance with the CFL team’s commitment to Truth and Reconciliation via purposeful, community-driven action.

The bursary will principally support Indigenous FNUniv students who have been raised in smaller communities.

“They’re leaving home, perhaps for the first time, to move into one of our cities where our campuses are — Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Regina,” Dr. Ottmann said. “There are many, many costs that are associated with relocation and, of course, these are first-year students.

“They would not, in many cases, have the support to relocate. That would include transportation, housing, perhaps childcare.”

Under any circumstances, leaving one’s family to pursue higher education can create financial and/or emotional stresses.

Roughriders President-CEO Craig Reynolds, for example, grew up in Foam Lake before attending Arizona State University and, subsequently, the U of S.

“It can be scary, leaving a community that has supported you and one where you know everybody,” Reynolds said. “And, for me, it was a small community. My birthday is in December, so I was 17 years old when that happened.

“Moving to a city sometimes can be daunting. I actually moved out of the country, so that was especially daunting. I can totally appreciate how scary that can be.

“It’s a potential barrier as well. The cost of going to a university from outside a city is often more. Hopefully the ‘Away from Home’ bursary will help support the students who make that decision.”

Breanna Desnomie had such a decision to make when she left Peepeekisis Cree Nation (near Balcarres) to begin Indigenous Social Work studies at the FUNniv in Regina.

“For first-year students coming into university, it releases those stressors of financial barriers that we can come across,” Desnomie said. “It allows us to focus on our studies rather than on our life outside of studies.

“The ‘Away from Home’ (bursary) really helps our northern communities, especially the ones that are really rural. (Students) are able to leave their communities and leave their supports to come into school and start breaking those cycles and getting the education that’s needed to better our generations to come.”

The Roughrider Foundation Scholarship, meanwhile, will acknowledge and reward academic excellence that is demonstrated by students who are entering FNUniv.

“This sends a strong message,” Dr. Ottmann said. “It recognizes the hard work and leadership and courage it takes to make a decision like this (to move away from home).”

Wednesday’s announcement celebrated a partnership between the football team, the Roughrider Foundation and the FNUniv. Education is one of the Foundation’s three core pillars.

“When education, health and sport come together, it creates an opportunity that lasts a lifetime,” said Tyler Lloyd, the Foundation’s Director of Development.

For more information on the Foundation and its many initiatives, CLICK HERE.