First Nations students brought into the fold – The Globe and Mail
Nov. 05 2013
It has taken a few detours, but Sheryl Fisher’s 20-year-long dream to earn a master-level business degree is coming true.
A member of Squamish First Nation in British Columbia, the 44-year-old has worked since leaving high school and earned several college certificates, but none offered a path to a university degree.
That route opened last year when she was accepted into the first class of a new executive MBA in aboriginal business and leadership, unique in Canada for conferring a degree, at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
With Canada’s aboriginal population the fastest-growing segment of society – and with treaty rights, land claims and native cultural issues inextricably linked to Canada’s future resource development – some business schools are beginning to pursue new initiatives on recruitment, curriculum and specialty programs.
