University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (University nn Blue Quills, formerly Blue Quills Education Centre and Blue Quills First Nations College (BQFNC)) is a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

owned and operated university in Canada, the first of its kind in the country. The university is jointly owned by seven First Nation band governments: Beaver Lake, Cold Lake,

Frog Lake Frog Lake may refer to: * Frog Lake, Alberta, a Cree community in Canada, site of the ** Frog Lake Massacre * Frog Lake (Colchester), a lake of Colchester County, in Nova Scotia, Canada * Frog Lake (Guysborough), a lake of Guysborough District, i ...

, Whitefish Lake, Heart Lake, Kehewin, and Saddle Lake. The university is not provincially chartered, unlike all other

universities in Alberta Universities in Canada are established and operate under provincial and territorial government charters, except in one case directed by First Nations bands and in another by federal legislation. Most public universities in the country are memb ...

but instead incorporated by federal statute. The institution was founded as an

Indian residential school In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sys ...

in the 1930s before being occupied by a protest movement in 1970 and then transferred to indigenous control in 1971. It was declared a university on September 1, 2015. Blue Quills is a member of the National Association of Indigenous Institutes of Higher Learning and the First Nation Adult and Higher Education Consortium, a non-profit organization in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

, which coordinates the efforts of its members to provide quality adult and higher education, controlled entirely by people of the First Nations. The university hosts an annual cultural camp in May.

History

BQFNC was the first indigenous controlled and operated post secondary educational institution in Canada. The brick school was built in 1931 on Blue Quills First Nation Indian Reserve and operated as a Blue Quills Indian Residential School until 1970. In July 1970 it was taken over by community members through peaceful protest and occupation. Negotiations with then

Minister of Indian Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

, took place and agreement was signed on July 31, 1970, transferring the operations of Blue Quills to the Native Education Council. The Blue Quills First Nation College (Blue Quills Education Centre) opened in September 1971. In November 2000, the college was accredited by th
First Nations Accreditation Board
In September 2015 the Blue Quills First Nation College became University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills, a named which includes both

Dene The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...

and

Cree language Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is th ...

words for the school.

Scholarships and bursaries

University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills scholarships for

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

and

students include: Theodore R. Campbell Scholarship.

References

{{authority control Universities in Alberta Indigenous universities and colleges in North America First Nations education Community colleges Educational institutions established in 1971 1971 establishments in Alberta First Nations in Alberta

History

Scholarships and bursaries

See also

References