Marie Ann Battiste (born 1949) is an author and educator working as a professor in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
at the
University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in the Department of Educational Foundations.
From the
Potlotek First Nation Potlotek First Nation, also known as Chapel Island, is a Mi'kmaw community in northeastern Nova Scotia. The community is situated in Richmond County, Nova Scotia, Canada
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, ...
in Nova Scotia, Battiste is the daughter of
Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...
parents John and Annie Battiste and is one of four children.
Battiste was raised in
Houlton, Maine
Houlton is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, on the Canada–United States border. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 6,055. It is perhaps best known for being at the northern terminus of Interstate 95 and as the birthplace of Sam ...
, where she attended high school graduating in 1967.
From there she went on to the
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...
graduating from the Farmington campus in 1971 with her teaching certificate and a bachelor of science in both elementary and junior high education.
She went on to attend
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
graduating in 1974 with a master of education in administration and social policy as well as
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, where in 1984 she graduated with a doctor of education in curriculum and teacher education.
Work
After graduating from the University of Maine in 1971 Battiste went on to work at the Maine Indian Education Council where she introduced and developed an early childhood education program, Head Start, on three reservations and in multiple off reservation communities.
Battiste spent twenty-five years in Cape Breton where she worked alongside
James (Sakej) Youngblood Henderson
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
with young Mi'kmaq students helping them become teacher and lawyers, as well as fighting for their admittance into universities.
The work Battiste and Henderson did together grew the number of Mi'kmaq teachers from a few to sixty, and the addition of ten lawyers where there had previously been none.
Battiste has worked in the field of Indian education for over thirty years with her most well known work being the revitalization of Mi'kmaq language in her home community in
Chapel Island, Nova Scotia
Chapel Island is an island in Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Its name in the kylee Miꞌkmaq language is Mniku but other names such as Vachlouacadie ("place of running water / running spirits") and Pastukopajitkewe'kati ...
.
She credits her doctoral dissertation as one of the many starting points interest in revitalizing the native language saying that a conversation with her advisor about the multiple writing systems of the Mi'kmaq language inspired her to research the histories of these writing systems.
There are three different methods for writing with two still in use the first and most commonly used is the Pacifique system and the second and more controversial method being the Francis-Smith system.
According to Battiste the Francis-Smith system of writing comes with more controversy for many reasons but the primary reason being, as she puts it, "reflecting the fact that we are now using English as a second language in most of our communities," and "it seems to undercut the power of the old language for many."
Throughout her many years of work in education Battiste has taught a various schools in Nova Scotia including time spent as the Education Director and Principle on the Chapel Island reserve from 1984 to 1988.
Battiste is sometimes called a "guru" of aboriginal education and serves as the academic director of the University of Saskatchewan's aboriginal education research centre.
She has also served on a multitude of different boards as well as a delegate to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
' Workshop on Indigenous Peoples and Higher Education.
Awards and honours
Battiste has been honoured multiple times with awards for the work that she has done. The most prominent of these awards, Honorary Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019 and in 2008 she was one of 14 recipients of the
National Aboriginal Achievement Award
The Indspire Awards, until 2012 the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, are annual awards presented by Indspire in Canada. The awards are intended to celebrate and encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community.
About
The awards were fir ...
, now the Indspire Awards, for her work in aboriginal education in Canada.
Her list of honours also includes the 1985 Woman of the Year award from the Sydney, Nova Scotia Professional and Business Women's Society.
In the same year she also received the Alumni Achievement award from the University of Maine Farmington.
Battiste is the recipient of two Honorary Doctorates one from
St. Mary's University in 1987, and the other an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Maine, Farmington, in 1997.
In 1992 she received the 125th Year Queen's Award for Service to the Community as well as the Nova Scotia Social Studies Curriculum Development Award.
In 1993 Battiste was honoured with a White Eagle Feather at the Eskasoni School Pow Wow in
Eskasoni, Nova Scotia, and again in 1995 was honoured by the
Mi'kmaq Grand Council with an Eagle Feather on
Mi'kmaq Treaty Day.
Both Battiste and Henderson were recipients of the First Nations Publishing Award and the Saskatchewan Book Award in 2000 for Protecting Indigenous Knowledge, a book they wrote together.
In 2013, she was awarded the Canadian Association of University Teachers Distinguished Academic Award.
Books
*''Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision''
*''Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge''
*''First Nations Education in Canada: The Circle Unfolds''
References
External links
University of Saskatchewan: Marie BattisteMi'kmawa Archives: Marie Battiste
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battiste, Marie
1946 births
Living people
Canadian educators
Canadian women non-fiction writers
First Nations women writers
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
Mi'kmaq people
Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan
Indspire Awards
University of Maine alumni
Stanford Graduate School of Education alumni
20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers
20th-century Canadian women writers
20th-century First Nations writers
21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers
21st-century Canadian women writers
21st-century First Nations writers
Officers of the Order of Canada
First Nations academics