Amy Kelaidis, from Mohawk College, is the Director and Special Advisor of Indigenous Initiatives. Tom McLeod introduced Amy who is a member of the Eagle Clan Mississauga of the First Nation.
Using the background of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and Mohawk College’s involvement with the Indigenous Education Protocol Amy outlined what the college is doing for indigenous communities.
There are 27 000 members of Six Nations with half living on the reserve and the other half in Hamilton and Brantford. The graduation rate for indigenous students is 63%, the same as the general population. There are now around 1000 indigenous grads in the alumni database.
The college has a strategic plan that includes the TRC recommendations and focuses on five areas: access and learner success, pathways for success for education and employment, partnerships and opportunities, engagement and capacity building, and awareness and reconcili-ACTION.
She ended her presentation with a review of the Awards and Bursaries Program. The Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club is considering working with the college to contribute to an endowment fund where the club donates $25 000 and the college matches the amount to build a fund of $50 000 that will work in perpetuity to provide awards each year for indigenous students.
Derek Dix thanked Amy in our club’s usual way – the signing of a children’s book that will be donated to the library at Six Nations.
For more information on the extent of the effort Mohawk College is putting into this area and the work of the college’s Indigenous Education Council please see https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/indigenous-students/indigenous-education-council-of-mohawk-college