THUNDER BAY -- Peter Cromarty-Chapman knew from a young age that getting an education would be vital to his future.
Growing up in the Big Trout Lake First Nation, Cromarty-Chapman was always interested in building and determined in high school he wanted to pursue the field of civil engineering.
“Once I figured it out I knew immediately it was exactly what I wanted to do and from that point I became interested in civil engineering,” he said.
He is now about to enter his second year of the three-year civil engineering program at Confederation College and attended the
Maadaadizi post-secondary orientation, a joint session held Saturday at Prince Arthur’s Landing welcoming First Nation students who are attending the city’s institutions.
Cromarty-Chapman welcomed the opportunity to be with hundreds of fellow students.
“It makes me really proud that I see a lot of other students attending college. Coming from the reserve you don’t actually experience people who are educated, coming from the reserve I don’t personally connect with a lot of people in college,” he said.
He enjoyed the first year of the program and knows he is now ready to be of assistance to those who were in his shoes just one year ago.
The keynote speaker of the orientation was former CBC personality Wab Kinew, who stressed the value of education and shared his experiences.
Obtaining an education is the best way to prepare for a desirable career, he said.
“Education is the most consistent way to put yourself on the path to success. Coming here I wanted to spread the message and support everything else going on in Thunder Bay and encourage young First Nations people, and people from all walks of life, to get educated and find a career to make themselves happy and healthy,” Kinew said.
Kinew recognizes that education is something that has cast a dark cloud over First Nations people through history, dating back to residential schools.
However, he firmly believes that it is key for social development.
“A generation ago it was being used to hold us down and today we’re using it to lift ourselves up and do something really positive,” Kinew said.
“I think if we recognize that and we talk about that transformation it’ll help other people realize if they’re skeptical about education they shouldn’t be.”
Lakehead University president Brian Stevenson said the orientation afternoon was the first time Lakehead had partnered with Confederation College and Oshki-Pimache-O-Win for that kind of welcome.
The goal is to extend the sense of community beyond the borders of each respective campus, he said.
“It’s about the students understanding there is a shared experience and that there begins to be a shared community among the Aboriginal educational communities in town,” Stevenson said.
Stevenson estimated the number of First Nation students attending Lakehead will increase between five to eight per cent over last year, bringing the number of students at close to 1,300.
Kinew, as the associate vice-president of indigenous, government and community affairs at the University of Winnipeg, said increasing enrollment is becoming a trend at post-secondary institutions across the country.
Now the focus needs to be ensuring as many of those students as possible emerge with degrees or diplomas, or even pursue professional degrees.
“We’re starting to make inroads with First Nations students, now let’s make sure everybody is successful,” he said.
