Welcome to the first ever First Nations Initiatives (FNI) Blog!

Welcome to the first ever First Nations Initiatives (FNI) Blog!

We have been asked to start a blog where we can do our best to answer various questions and spread some information.

Were hoping to offer some useful information on a range of First Nations topics and to help spread the word about what it is that the FNI department does. All members of the FNI team will be contributing in some way to this blog so if you have a question or would like to request a topic area feel free to contact any of us.

So what is the FNI area? Well we are currently 4 staff members that work towards ensuring that Yukon College is meeting the education and training needs of our Yukon First Nations partners and we also work towards integrating an understanding and awareness of Yukon First Nations.

The FNI department is fortunate to have the chance to work with all departments and schools within the College on a wide range of projects. Our work varies from coordinating quarterly meetings of the President’s Advisory Committee on First Nations Initiatives (PACFNI) to responding to specific and territorial wide training requests from First Nations. We also work with new curriculum development in a number of schools and we often deal with protocol questions. We are always receiving new requests to participate in various projects so if you have something you think maybe we can assist with, please let us know.

This week’s Question:

What are 5 things that you wish everyone knew about Yukon First Nations?

1. Each Yukon First Nation is different. There are similarities but there are also a number of important differences
a. Different Languages
b. Different Traditions
c. Different Governing structures
d. Different goals

2. 11 of the 14 First Nations in the Yukon have signed Final and Self Government Agreements

3. The Government of a Self Governing First Nation is and should be treated the same as other Territorial and Federal levels of Government

4. There are some fundamental differences between First Nations world views and Non-First Nations.
5. Residential School still effects First Nations people and probably will for some time. This is a complex topic and it’s important that people have an accurate picture of what Residential Schools were, what happened there, and the consequences of them.