U of W to be hub for indigenous development research

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This article was published 05/05/2010 (5703 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE University of Winnipeg is about to become a worldwide hub for research into indigenous development.

President Lloyd Axworthy announced Tuesday morning that U of W will join a world network of 22 universities which use money from the U.S.-based MacArthur Foundation to offer a master’s degree in development practice.

U of W will specialize in indigenous issues and perspectives.

"We’ve been selected as the hub for indigenous development for the whole network," Axworthy said. "This leads us forward into a broad network of global universities.

"This is as important as having a public health agency" come to the city, Axworthy said.

The master’s development program in the 22 universities on six continents brings together students from a wide variety of disciplines to tackle issues such as extreme poverty, climate change and human rights.

Students do two 12-week practicums, one domestic, one international.

Axworthy said U of W will attract about 25 students from around the world annually, beginning in 2011, and serve as an international research centre for indigenous research.

"We think we can attract a lot of resources" through research grants and other financial support, Axworthy said. The program will move into space on the main campus to be vacated when the new science building opens two blocks west, he said.

Axworthy, a member of the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, said that when the first 15 universities received grants in 2008 to launch the master’s development program, he asked which school would specialize in indigenous development.

He was told U of W should apply, said Axworthy, who then recused himself from the grants process. U of W received a US $800,000 grant from the foundation.

Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, will head an advisory circle to bring indigenous traditions to the program.

"For too long, this unique perspective of indigenous people has been absent" on major development issues, Fontaine said. "We will have an opportunity to influence those decisions."

The master’s degree will be the 15th graduate program at U of W, but the first to go beyond traditional university programs, Axworthy said in an interview.

It has the potential to bring both indigenous and non-indigenous students and scholars from all over the world to Winnipeg, he said.

As an example of how network members specialize, he said, the University of California Berkeley will focus on development practices in the South Pacific. The overall program is based at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca