The Cree School Board is joining with the Eenou-Eeyou Community Foundation to offer a scholarship program for post-secondary students pursuing careers identified as critically needed in Eeyou Istchee.
The Eeyou-Eenou Chiskutamaachewin (Education) Scholarship Program will initially target Cree students pursuing medicine, nursing, social work and education university programs. Thirty-three Cree students will receive $214,000 in scholarships this 2024-25 school year.
“This scholarship will play a key role in shaping our future leaders in Eeyou Istchee,” explained CSB director general Caroline Mark. “The program represents an important step to accelerate capacity building. From doctors to educators, nurses to social workers, there is a pressing need for diverse Cree professionals in our communities.”
CSB chairperson Sarah Pash has also served for the past year as the chair of the Eenou-Eeyou Community Foundation, whose board of directors is comprised of leaders from the major Cree entities. The Foundation’s mission is to provide philanthropic support for Cree social and cultural development priorities.
“We’re looking forward to expansion of the scholarship program if the funding is found,” Pash told the Nation. “The Foundation is actively seeking partnerships to provide scholarships in other areas – there are so many areas in need for capacity development.”
With a new regional hospital being built in Chisasibi, along with expanding CMC community clinic services and Elders’ homes, the Cree Health Board wants to fill hundreds of positions in the next few years. The CHB website states they are “actively recruiting” nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and midwives.
“Medicine is definitely targeted,” explained Pash. “We know how effective our Cree doctors are in the communities, how they can talk to people, speak the language and understand the context of the communities where they’re working. It’s the same for Cree nurses serving our communities.”
Only a handful of Cree doctors are currently working in the territory. Last year, a one-year “springboard to nursing” program was launched for Cree students to earn nursing school prerequisites while staying in Eeyou Istchee. After finishing the Cree-tailored program, students can continue their education at John Abbot College in Montreal.
“We have 82 vacancies in nursing, but it’s like that across the province, across Canada,” said Nancy Shecapio-Blacksmith, director of nursing at the CHB. “Let’s try to recruit our own people instead of looking elsewhere. Why don’t we invest in our own people and start there?”
To increase the number of Cree social workers, the scholarship will target students pursuing a Bachelor of Social Work. Other medical fields requiring a bachelor’s or master’s degree will also qualify for incentives.
Education is another priority for the scholarship, with a focus on attracting Cree secondary school teachers. Pash said there is an acute need for teachers of science, math, geography and others. This specialized path requires not only a Bachelor of Education, (BEd) but also another degree in a field of study.
“For instance, I have a BA in English and Liberal Arts and had to do a Bachelor of Education to be qualified,” said Pash. “We need to recognize that it’s actually a student engagement and success issue. For Indigenous students, it’s important they see themselves reflected in the teachers who work with them every day.”
When Pash was a secondary school teacher in the early 2000s, she thinks there were only two Cree subject-area teachers in the entire region, a number that remains unchanged today. This figure doesn’t include Cree culture and language teachers, who are trained through the CSB’s own program.
As of last summer, there were 154 Cree students enrolled in six CSB teaching programs offered in collaboration with McGill University, including specific programs for kindergarten and elementary students and children with special needs. From the first cohort of the full-time in-community teaching program, 23 celebrated their graduation in July.
“We launched our second full-time cohort in 2023 with 28 students right now,” said professional development coordinator Charlene Erless. “We’re in talks to get a master’s degree offered in communities for students who are teachers. Most of these students have families they don’t want to leave behind.”
The CSB’s department of higher learning, launched in late 2023, is currently exploring new programs to be offered within Eeyou Istchee. A BSW program is already in development, which is likely to be followed by a Bachelor of Nursing program.
“We also have information technology post-secondary programs on the horizon, related to computing, networking and data management, and also programs that are more vocational oriented,” Pash revealed. “There are a lot of things on the table – we’re going to see a rapid growth of the number of programs offered in the community over the next five or 10 years.”
In this first year of the Chiskutamaachewin scholarship, funding will be provided to selected students already in medical, nursing, social work, dentistry, psychiatry and education programs at bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate levels. With CSB’s post-secondary application deadline approaching in March, it’s hoped this program encourages more students to apply to these programs.
The new incentives are in addition to the regular post-secondary funding the CSB provides to about 500 Cree students each year. Recognizing the critical importance of post-secondary graduates for the Nation’s capacity building, the CSB has expanded in-community preparation or “springboard” programs in the last few years to simplify the transition.
Pash is a passionate proponent of post-secondary education’s potential to not only transform Cree organizations and communities, but to inspire future generations. Her father’s completion of a BEd when she was a young girl demonstrated a pathway that she and her brother later followed. Now her own children are in university.
“The pursuit of post-secondary education becomes a gift showing us what’s possible in our lives,” said Pash. “They become role models for their children. It has been one of the most impactful tools we have had as a Nation for determining our own destiny.”