Nellie Cournoyea
Nellie CournoyeaConvocation Address
University of Alberta, June 8, 2004
Faculty, family and friends, and fellow graduates, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this convocation of the University of Alberta. This is a special day. It is for you graduates of the Faculty of Education (Secondary & Adult Programs), the Faculty of Physical Education & Recreation, and the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine the culmination of many years of hard work and a major personal achievement. Congratulations on a job well done. Be proud of your accomplishment.
I acknowledge as well the family and friends of the graduates. I know the importance of the support you have given over the years: you, too are to be congratulated for your efforts and your success reflected in this graduating class today.
I would like to thank the University for acknowledging the achievements of the Inuvialuit with the honour bestowed upon me today. I have been fortunate and privileged to serve the Inuvialuit for almost 30 years as a land claim negotiator in territorial government and as chair of Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
For those of you who may not be familiar, the Inuvialuit are the Inuit of the coastal regions of the Northwest Territories and Yukon. We were the first Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories to conclude a comprehensive land settlement with the Government of Canada. Rooted in a respect for our culture and traditions and confidence in our ability to secure our future, the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA) was signed June 5, 1984, 20 years ago last Saturday.
The IFA came about because thoughtful people committed themselves to achieving Inuvialuit self-reliance through the institutions of a land claim. The goals expressed in the IFA are:
- to preserve Inuvialuit cultural identity and values within a changing northern society;
- to enable Inuvialuit to be equal and meaningful participants in the northern and national economy and society; and
- to protect and preserve the Arctic wildlife, environment and biological productivity.
The signing of the IFA, a graduation of sorts, was a necessary step and an achievement about which the Inuvialuit are justly proud. It equipped Inuvialuit with tools to be used in the pursuit of the collective goals just as you today have acquired skills — tools to be used as you pursue your life goals.
The Inuvialuit goals are ambitious and 20 years on, we are still far from finished. We strive to maintain the focus of our endeavours on those long-established objectives which we still believe hold the key to a better future for all Inuvialuit. Just as we use the tools of land claim to pursue our future, your challenge is to use the knowledge and advantages gained here in the pursuit of our goals and a better future for you, your families, and the people around you.
Humans are impatient beings and progress is never as rapid as most of us would like. The second goal of the IFA, to be equal and meaningful participants in the northern and national economy and society, is still far from true for most Inuvialuit.
Appropriately, the disciplines represented in the graduating class here today are keys to achieving that goal. Education, health care, and healthy lifestyles are necessary preconditions to full and meaningful participation in the economic life of Canada for all Canadians. Your fields of study are all focused on serving people. These career choices have given you the means to fulfill not only your personal dreams but also to play a part in allowing others to dream bigger dreams and succeed.
For many young Inuvialuit, the challenge is to recognize the opportunities that are available for them and to acquire the knowledge and skills to be a player. Only by reaching individuals and helping them to dream bigger dreams, opening the window onto a world of possibilities, will we succeed in making real the promise of the IFA.
My dream is that in the near future, I can sit in a room like this and watch as numbers of Inuvialuit walk across this platform filled with the same spirit and pride evident here today. Institutions such as this University can play a part. We need to challenge ourselves to find ways to engage the mind and spirit of a generation of northerners.
In you I find hope — hope that you will touch young people and help them to dream, hope that some of those that you inspire will be young people from my part of the world. The realization of your dream today can lead you to inspire their dream tomorrow and thereby fulfill mine.
Once again, I congratulate you.
Thank you.