Neil Godbout had a story to tell about what UNBC and higher education means to Prince George. I am saddened to hear his impressions and views. I have another story to tell about this.
I was born in Prince George one snowy January morning, never dreaming I would one day attend university at UNBC. We were a young working-class family the year we passed through Prince George. My father worked at the local mill and my mom stayed home to raise children. In our First Nations heritage we valued all forms of knowledge, not just academic. My father was eventually to break his back working in a mill and went on to struggle with chronic pain, sporadic employment, and financial difficulties since then. As kids, we looked up to my dad because he was clever and handy with his words and his mechanical abilities. My mom was quiet and shy as she adjusted to living away from her homeland and culture.
My siblings disliked school. My brother took an extra year to graduate high school so we graduated together in the same year. My sister had dyslexia, was bullied and attended many alternative high schools and technically never graduated as most of her transcripts were lost. I was a strange child, an old adult-like soul in a toddlers’ body. I was known for my rhetorical abilities from age 2. I intimidated babysitters and exasperated my mom who often told me to just go outside and play and be a kid. At age 3 I could captivate a room telling a story, at age 4 I taught myself how to read, at age 5 I started writing books, and by age 6 I was reading past a high school level. Although I was gifted with words and stories, I still slipped through the cracks of the education system that did not recognize or honour my Indigenous heritage and culture or provide the needed supports to nurture children via holistic education.
I was the only one in my family who took to academics and enjoyed school. Most days we were sent to school without a lunch because there was nothing to send, yet I was a top student and graduated high school with First Class Honours. From the age of 18 years onward I lived on my own and supported myself, struggling just to survive. Years later, the day I told my dad I would attend university on full scholarships that I had earned, he broke down and cried actual tears. This was a destiny that he had never been able to provide for me. I had not known that he had privately grieved this for so many years. My mother suffered intergenerational trauma from the residential school system and avoided anything to do with school. When I graduated my BA with Great Distinction, my mom told me she was proud of me for the first time in my life. She said our Nisga’a people are so happy because I am Killer Whale Clan and I am doing well.
Last month I returned to Prince George for the first time since I was a newborn baby. Just as the plane was about to touch down, I welled up in tears as I was flooded with an overwhelming sense of coming home. I have been welcomed by all at UNBC and the surrounding community. I am valued as a First Nations citizen and considered to be from Northern BC despite my long absence. The Nisga’a lands of the Nass Valley are my ancestral home, and Prince George is my second adopted home. I am honoured to again reside on the traditional lands of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation and to attend UNBC as I pursue my Master’s degree in First Nations Studies.
I hold leadership and service positions at my university, where I research and speak out critically to bring about equitable treatment and social justice for Indigenous peoples and other under-represented groups. In everything I do in academics and advocacy I am working to break down the exclusive Ivory Tower of academia and make education accessible to all. I receive support in these endeavors from every level of the institution; from fellow students, faculty members, staff, community members, elders, and even the President of the university who has been kind enough to have conversations with me, take my viewpoints seriously, and treat my First Nations background respectfully.
Neil Godbout believes that UNBC is elitist and disparaging of those without post-secondary education. I can only say that I have in no way seen this to be true in my one year of association with UNBC. He is also concerned that some look down on UNBC as a lesser university. I am uncertain how to respond to this except to say that there will always be “people” who seek to bring others down.
In my Indigenous worldview that values community and relationship building, and in my natural personality of compassion and optimism, I am unbelievably grateful to my birth city of Prince George and to UNBC for offering me opportunities to attain my graduate education. They provide the platform for my voice to be heard and to matter in important conversations about reforming, decolonizing, and Indigenizing academia for the better. There will always be adversity and conflicting approaches to overcome. Amongst those challenges, I see such hope for a brighter future. If we all keep working on the path that we are on and keep the faith, we will bridge these gaps together and honour our shared humanity through higher education and other avenues. Mr. Godbout, please join us in keeping this faith.
Cheri Brown
Prince George
