New funding announced in the 2019 federal budget will give Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning a new boost to programming over the next five years.
The federal government announced its annual budget on March 19 and among the highlights for the North included $13 million for Dechinta. In the "Helping People in Arctic and Northern Communities Succeed" section of the budget, the federal government committed the annual funding starting in the 2019-20 programming year in order to "foster Indigenous knowledge and education" and support the delivery of culturally appropriate and community-developed curricula to enhance access to and success in higher education for Indigenous and Northern students.
Last year, the university had 19 students enrolled in accredited programming and 12 completed the first University of British Columbia Dechinta Certificate in Land and Community Based Research. The university also hired more than 20 Northerners in a variety of roles contributing to the program development and delivery, according to Kelsey Wrightson, executive director of the university.
Those enrolment numbers, however, are expected to increase as the new funding helps with recruitment efforts and assists with developing programming in other Indigenous communities in the NWT.
Organizers say the money is the first time the Government of Canada has provided financial stability of this kind since the institution was founded a decade ago.
"It has been the first time that we have the ability financially in resources to plan programming ahead so we're not always behind the eight-ball," said Glen Coulthard, Dechinta faculty member and associate professor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies and the Department of Political Science with the University of British Columbia.
"We can start the important process of deepening our connections in other regions throughout the North. So we have more access and people have more access to our programming."
Coulthard said one of the things that people may not appreciate in running an on-the-land university is the effort that goes into developing relationships and building trust community to community with elders and knowledge-keepers throughout the North.
"To do this type of work well, you have to establish relationships with trust you can't just cookie-cut your way into communities," he said.
One of the aims Coulthard said the university is working on is having programming that can be offered in the Sahtu as well as to the Kaska Dene in the Yukon and B.C., in the late summer.
Michael McLeod, member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories, was promoting the budget shortly after it was announced with Carolyn Bennett, federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous relations. Both had the opportunity to visit the Arctic Wellness Camp and meet with university representatives as part of the day itinerary.
"We had a chance to get together with Dechinta and they did a lot of work to get the investment they received," McLeod said late last month, adding that it was a big part of responding to the requests that Northerners made leading up to the budget.