Description
The New Buffalo: The Struggle for Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education of Canada is a new book by Cree-Saulteaux scholar Blair Stonechild. As Professor of Indigenous Studies at the First Nations University of Canada, Stonechild tackles the overlooked history of First Nations post-secondary education as it relates to policy. His focus is the area of university-level education for First Nations students. Research for this book took the writer to the records of the Department of Indian Affairs as well as provincial archival records and First Nations political organizations' records. He examines the early government policies regarding education for Indians that focus on assimilation. From the First Nations' perspective education is viewed as a powerful tool for self-sufficiency and self-government. In fact education is a resource comparable to the buffalo resources utilized by the Plains First Nations in times past. The goal of Indian Control of Indian Education is reflected in the attempts by First Nations to operate institutions of higher learning such as Manitou College and First Nations University. The funding gaps in university education result from the colonial positioning of First Nations with the Canadian government structure. Stonechild brings personal experience of the education system from his years spent as a residential school student and as a student, professor and administrator of a First Nations-controlled institution to the task of documenting educational policy history in Canada. This is an important and timely contribution to the literature about First Nations post-secondary education from a First Nation's perspective.