HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L. — Post-secondary education in the Big Land is getting a boost today.
In a big announcement by Memorial University Friday, the campus in Happy Valley-Goose Bay will now become the first academic unit of the university in Labrador.
It will be called the School of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Studies and the designation allows them to develop their own courses and degree programs, as well as hire faculty.
Vianne Timmons, president of Memorial University, was in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to make the announcement, which she said is exciting news for the province.
The school will offer northern-focused, northern-led programming, she said.
The Board of Regents of Memorial approved the constitution of the new unit earlier this month, which Timmins said was developed in partnership with the three Indigenous governments in Labrador, the Innu Nation, Nunatsiavut, and Nunatukavut.
“I think it’s long overdue,” she said. “We’re Newfoundland and Labrador, and Indigenous governments and Indigenous people of Newfoundland and Labrador are part of our community. They have unique cultural aspects we have to pay attention to when making programming. We could learn a lot from them.”
The constitution gives Indigenous groups in Labrador voting seats on the academic council of the new school, which Timmins said is important to creating and delivering programs people in Labrador want to see.
Timmins also referenced the Indigenous Research Framework recently put into effect, allowing the subjects of indigenous research more control over the data gathered by the university, as some of the ways the university is working on integrating indigenous knowledge into its practices.
Ashlee Cunsolo, director of the Labrador Institute, echoed Timmins' excitement and said the School of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Studies is an ‘incredible development’ for Labrador.
She said it’s a huge step for them since academic programming they had previously offered was always in partnership with other units, such as the School of Social Work or Education.
“We can develop our own programming and partner with many others but in particular, we can partner with the people here in Labrador so that we have Labrador perspectives, expertise, sciences, cultures and languages throughout all of our programming,” she said.
They want to make sure the campus reflects the land, water and people of Labrador, Cunsolo said, and that they provide what people want to learn.
Developing the programming, hiring faculty, and getting new infrastructure will take time she said, and getting to the point where they will have a full undergraduate program set up and ready to go will take approximately 3-5 years.
“It’s a lot of work ahead but it’s exciting,” she said. “It’s great to be a part of this.”
Evan Careen is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering Labrador for the SaltWire Network
