Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/609048
52 simon FALL 2015 S FU alumnus Ian Campbell, hereditary chief of the Squamish Nation, is a visionary who has ambitious plans for his people. "We're moving away from managing welfare to managing wealth," he says. And now that he has graduated with an SFU Executive MBA in Aboriginal business and leadership, he has the knowledge to forge ahead with ideas for projects. These include developing the Jericho Lands in Vancouver and pursuing development and business collaborations with other First Nations. Campbell, 41, was among 14 students aged 32 to 57 who, in June 2015, were the rst to graduate from Canada's rst credited MBA for established Aboriginal leaders, entrepreneurs and others work- ing with Aboriginal communities. In 2013, BCBusiness magazine acclaimed the program as one of B.C.'s 10 most signi cant innovations. Campbell concurs. He was accepted into SFU's Beedie School of Business program without an undergraduate degree, but with signi cant career expe- rience. He says the program "absolutely delivered" on formal business skills and tools while also recognizing and address- ing how to incorporate traditional Aboriginal protocols and knowledge. "I'm employed as lead negotiator in intergovernmental relations for the Squamish Nation," he says. "We're engaged in signi cant projects through- out our territor y that deal with intergovernmental relations, business opportunities and investment. So my focus in the EMBA was fourfold: creating a vision, structuring our nation's corpo- rate division, building capacity within the nation and inspiring our young people." He says the 33-month part-time EMBA program is very timely, and credits SFU's courage and foresight in creating it. Program director Mark Selman, who conceived and championed the program, says it addresses an important change in B.C.'s business environment. "First Nations are getting access to resources they never had in the past," he says. "They have money to invest, and opportunities. Businesses are realizing that in terms of managing their risks, they need to work with First Nations." Adds Campbell, "As Canada goes through reconciliation we really have to ask ourselves, 'What are the actions that go with that?' The leadership SFU exempli ed in creating this program has inspired many of our Indigenous groups to move beyond the status quo. We're now in transition to recreate ourselves—not in isolation but with the rest of Canada." B.C.'S 30 FIRST NATIONS languages are among the most complex intellectual constructs on the planet, but their survival is hanging by a thread, says SFU anthropologist and linguist Marianne Ignace. Ignace is the director of SFU's First Nations Language Centre (FNLC), and is leading an ambitious seven-year project to work with First Nations community groups to maintain and revi- talize some of B.C. and Yukon's Indigenous lan- guages. The project is funded with a $2.5-million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. "The death of each elder who speaks the lan- guage represents the irretrievable loss of spe- cifi c Indigenous ways of speaking, of seeing the world, and of communicating about the land and the physical and social environment," she says. A professor of linguistics and First Nations studies, Ignace arrived at SFU in the late '70s from Germany to pursue a PhD on Haida dis- course and social organization. She has since played a key role in foster- ing SFU's involvement with B.C.'s First Nations, beginning with the establishment in 1988 of SFU outreach courses and programs in anthropol- ogy, archaeology, linguistics and First Nations studies. More than 450 students from First Nations communities have since earned credentials such as degrees, diplomas and certificates through these outreach programs. Along the way, she married Shuswap Nation chief Ron Ignace, and taught their eight children the nation's Secwepemc language. She contin- ued to work with numerous Aboriginal groups to document their languages, develop curricu- lum and create practical grammars. She also created courses to train language teachers and new speakers. Her latest project has been an intensive four- month Haida language "boot camp" in the com- munity of Old Massett. The 14 students studied all day, fi ve days a week and Ignace is encour- aged by their enormous progress. "The learners' success gives us hope that through hard work, suppor ted by research, we can together "grow" a new generation of adults who will continue to develop their fluency as they continue to document their language, gain con- fidence in using Haida, and teach it to others." PRESERVING FIRST NATIONS CULTURE THROUGH LANGUAGE UNIQUE EMBA HELPS ALUMNUS BLAZE NEW TRAILS aged by their enormous progress. "The learners' success gives us hope that through hard work, suppor ted by research, we can together "grow" a new generation of adults who will continue to develop their fluency as they continue to document their language, gain con- fidence in using Haida, and teach it to others."