With over 20 events lined up, the University of Saskatchewan community will celebrate Aboriginal Achievement Week from Feb. 8–12 with a series of activities ranging from ceremonies, speeches, dance and musical performances and an arts festival, among others.

Aboriginal Achievement Week, which started 15 years ago, was originally a student-run event wherein Aboriginal students, staff and faculty shared their successes and contributions to the public.

The week highlights the accomplishments of Aboriginal peoples not only within the university, but also Aboriginal contributions to Saskatoon, and Saskatchewan as a whole, through academic achievement, research, education, community engagement and leadership.

Feather Pewapisconias, Indigenous Students’ Council president at the U of S, explains why students should get involved in the event and celebrate the achievements of their Aboriginal peers.

“Aboriginal Achievement Week showcases the beauty and importance of Indigenous culture in all aspects in reference to art, education, careers, tradition and history. It gives a chance to explore Indigenous culture in a safe and welcoming environment. Students can learn about Indigenous people and Indigenous ways of knowing and recognize Indigenous success across our own campus,” Pewapisconias said in an email to the Sheaf.

The Aboriginal Student Centre plays a coordination role in planning the week, collaborating with colleges, student groups, units and departments across the institution to offer a variety of events.

The U of S currently has over 2,000 self-declared Aboriginal students and approximately 15 per cent of the overall population of Saskatchewan is Aboriginal. According to a 2015 Statistics Canada population projection, it is estimated that by 2036, the population of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people will increase to 25 per cent in the province.

Graeme Joseph, team leader of First Nations, Métis and Inuit student success, talks about how different departments are working together to make the week a success.

“We have people right across the campus helping us in organizing this event. It’s really good that way in terms of thinking about how it’s just not one department that’s carrying the load and doing this. It’s really the whole community that is involved and everybody has something to contribute which is really great,” Joseph said.

With leadership as last year’s theme, Indigenous students from different committees decided that this year, they would like to share their accomplishments by focusing on traditions.

“The reason this [theme] was chosen was we seem to have lost a bit of a connection from tradition and it’s important we recognize all aspects of tradition with our First Nation, Métis and Inuit relations,” Pewapisconias said.

The week’s events include the ASC’s Aboriginal Student Awards Ceremony, where nearly 50 awards will be distributed to students who have excelled academically, undertaken unique research and demonstrated community engagement and leadership.

Following the awards ceremony, there will be a gala, which is a private event by ticket purchase for students, faculty and the general public.

The gala will be a celebration of the Indigenous achievements across campus and will honour those individuals who received an award prior to the occasion.

The ISC will also host the Aboriginal Arts Festival, which will showcase Indigenous talent including mainstream poets, musicians, artists and traditional performances.

The week will conclude with a feast and round dance in the College of Education Gymnasium.

Joseph encourages everyone to take part in the celebration by looking through the schedule on the university’s website and familiarizing themselves with all that Aboriginal Achievement Week has to offer.

“This is something that our entire campus can take pride in, seeing what the contributions are by Aboriginal people to this institution, city and province … It’s also a celebration. We want people to come out. We want people to have fun … We have a really good selection this year. We just hope people take advantage of it.”

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Jaline Broqueza

Graphic: Jeremy Britz / Graphics Editor