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| Volume 11, Number 5 | October 17, 2003 |
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College to present Founders Award to Aboriginal elders posthumouslyThe U of S College of Education will honour two First Nations elders posthumously, bestowing one of its highest awards on them at an Oct. 25 campus ceremony. The College will honour the memory and significant contributions of the late Ida and John McLeod, presenting them with its Founders Award. The award is conferred every five years, recognizing Saskatchewan residents who have made significant contributions to education in the province, leading or directing educational developments with major beneficial effects on education in Saskatchewan, or who have given meritorious long-service in education in Saskatchewan. Both Ida and John McLeod worked in diverse capacities to raise the level and quality of education among First Nations people - at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Marie Battiste, Chair of Faculty Policy and Planning for the College of Education, says the McLeods' nomination points to their many contributions that had a direct impact on students, parents, and university programs for First Nations people in the province. In the 1930s and '40s, Ida (Vandalle) McLeod (1920-1982) was one of very few Indian women who developed a professional work career. She attended school at Sandy Lake Reserve and Onion Lake Residential School to Grade 9, after which she took Grades 10-12 at Bedford Road Collegiate in Saskatoon. After high school, Ida Vandalle attended Teachers' College in Saskatoon where she received her teaching certificate. In her career in education, she filled many positions, teaching first on the James Smith Reserve and at Whitefish Reserve. Ida Vandalle and John McLeod were married at James Smith Reserve May 21, 1943. At the end of 1947, she chose to stay at home to raise her children for six years, before returning to teaching from 1953-56 in the town of Derby. From 1956-69, she taught at and was principal of the school on James Smith Reserve. Her warmth and caring led her to assume a position as Guidance Counsellor for the Department of Indian Affairs in Saskatoon. Later, she became Director of the Cree Language Instruction Program at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre. Ida McLeod was also the first instructor of Cree at the University of Saskatchewan and developed the initial curriculum. John Robert McLeod (1922-1980), of the James Smith First Nation, was a central pedagogical figure in the movement for Indian control of Indian education in Saskatchewan and Canada. He was the son of the late Abel McLeod who was the last traditionally appointed leader of his reserve, and who was also active in the League of Indians. This had a direct impact upon John. His long advocacy for First Nations education began in the mid-1940s and '50s. He was involved with the local James Smith school committee, and then participated in and chaired the resolutions section of the Annual School Committee Conferences from 1964-72, which provided the only Indian Affairs region-wide forum in Saskatchewan for debate by First Nations representatives on education. He chaired the National Schools Committee Conferences from 1968-70, and worked to establish the Education Committee of the National Indian Brotherhood. He played a central role in stopping the Master Tuition Agreement that would have transferred authority for First Nations schools from the federal government to the Saskatchewan government. He co-chaired the Task Force on Indian Education in Saskatchewan from 1970-72, and was directly involved in establishing the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College. As Director of the Educational Liaison Department of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College from 1972-80, he worked with band councils and school committees to advance federal policy of Indian Control of Indian Education throughout the province. He was recognized and honoured for his leadership by being selected to co-ordinate Treaty Six celebrations in 1976. Battiste says the College of Education invites the U of S and and Aboriginal communities to help it celebrate and honour these achievements at a ceremony and reception at the Faculty Club, 4-6 p.m., Oct. 25.
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