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Saik’uz resident urges other indigenous students to apply for award

Irving K Barber scholarship deadline is March 31st
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Theresa John of Saik’uz First Nation was last year’s Indigenous Award recipient from the Irving K Barber British Columbia Scholarship Society. (Submitted photo)

A resident of Saik’uz First Nation is urging other indigenous students in B.C. to apply for a scholarship that has helped her achieve her goals.

Theresa John currently studies law at the Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law. She hasn’t had an easy journey to get through to law school, but said asking for help along the way eased the process.

The scholarship that John is referring to is the Indigenous Award program by the Irving K. Barber British Columbia Scholarship Society. The society offers three award programs for indigenous students pursuing post-secondary education in the province.

Their website states that under this specific program, scholarships are available to students who identify as indigenous, defined as First Nations (status or non-status), Métis or Inuit.

John said a lot of indigenous awards in her understanding don’t get a lot of applications.

“You deserve the award. The money is there for indigenous students… I think indigenous students don’t apply for it enough like generally overall. And I think it’s good to have the practice of writing applications and this process helps you learn how to market yourself which is really important,” she said.

READ MORE: New scholarships available for grad students in B.C.

The application deadline for the award is March 31, 2019. All awards are classified as multi-year. One could apply for the Student Award which is $1,000 - $2,500 for students pursuing trades training, apprenticeships, diplomas, certificates or undergraduate degrees.

Then there is the Masters or Doctoral Studies Award where an applicant pursuing masters or doctoral studies can receive $5,000. The last award is a $5,000 Teacher Education Award for students pursuing a teaching certificate.

“I am the first one to attempt this in Saik’uz. Nobody in my community has made it this far and that needs to change so more indigenous people become lawyers. Just given that it wasn’t long ago that you were punished if you wanted to be a lawyer. So I am doing something that no one before me in my family thought of doing,” John said.

She said at her law school indigenous law students make for under 1 percent of the total strength. In her class, John added, there are four indigenous students in a class of over 120 students.

The award covered housing and transportation, she said. Another big benefit of receiving the Award was that she could attend the Indigenous Bar Association conference held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in October last year. Here she met lawyers, policy makers and judges from across the country.

“Over 70 percent of the speakers there were women so that was really good,” she said.

For indigenous students out of high school looking for scholarships and feeling stressed about all the applications, John said it is important to not feel alone.

“Even though I didn’t have formal advisors, I was still able to ask somebody. I think the biggest thing is that people don’t ask for help as much as they should… I needed help through the whole process, but had I not asked then I would have just who-knows, not been here,” she said.

After John finishes her law degree she wants to implement and practice Indigenous Justice systems as a way for self determination for Dakelh communities due to the over representation of indigenous people in the justice system.

“I think Indigenous Justice systems have much to offer cause we are Potlatch people and that’s the way we do conflict resolution and mediation - through property transactions, marriage and it’s such a flexible system yet the values in it are so instilled,” John said.

Learn how to apply for the scholarship here.

READ MORE: $1 million to expand Indigenous entrepreneur program


Aman Parhar
Editor, Vanderhoof Omineca Express

aman.parhar@ominecaexpress.com

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