Dances with Wolves producer helps aboriginal students

An Oscar-winning producer’s family has decided to give $600,000 over four years to boost indigenous studies at McGill University in Montreal.

This first-of-its-kind program will provide recruitment outreach, bursaries, scholarships and cultural activities to help First Nations and Inuit students succeed in their studies.

“Why would I do this? No one else has done it, and it also has to do with my upbringing, many different things, over many years,” said McGill alumnus Jake Eberts, whose film credits include Dances With Wolves, Black Robe, The Education of Little Tree, Grey Owl and, most recently, the acclaimed March of the Penguins.

Eberts, who was brought up near Arvida in northwestern Quebec, said that as a youngster, he was often in contact with a nearby First Nations community.

A handmade wooden drinking cup given to his grandfather by a Cree fishing guide in northern Quebec in 1915 and passed down to Eberts also connected him many years later to a man who recognized the cup’s maker as his uncle.

“I began to understand all the connections between families and place, and the influence that the North has on Canada as a nation, in a natural way,” Eberts said.

When Eberts worked on his films, which required research into First Nations history, he said he acquired a deeper appreciation of the culture, language and society.

“I also learned how the way of life has been compromised,” he said.

Eberts asked himself how to preserve the culture and help the younger generation understand what their ancestors practiced.

But the idea for an endowment to McGill firmed up when he visited Iqaluit, Kimmirut and Cape Dorset last summer.

“The spark that really got me going was walking through the streets of Iqaluit and Kimmirut, and seeing a lot of people not doing anything and looking as if they were in despair, and at the mess of the place,” Eberts said. “This is really a shame. There are opportunities that they may not be aware of.”

Eberts hopes his endowment will encourage interest in education and an interest in business.

A brief encounter in Kimmirut with an Inuk involved in the new sapphire exploration and his U.S. helper convinced him something had to be done.

“‘Why does a local guy have to bring in an American guy from California to help him exploit sapphires?’ I asked him, and he said, ‘Well, we may know something about the land and how to survive, and we may know something about how to find sapphires but we don’t know how to commercialize it,'” Eberts said.

“One of the inspiring things for me was to create an awareness of business education. There’s no reason why a native can’t be as good as a white guy.”

Eberts also heard about how hard it is for post-secondary students to adapt in a big city like Montreal. Yet, at the same time, when he was in Nunavut, Eberts said he saw the worst of urban culture everywhere – “zillions of plastic bags.”

That’s all the more reason, he thinks, for more education and a better, mutual flow of information.

“It’s a two-way street,” said Eberts. “I was deeply impressed in the worst way by the plastic bag problem.”

Eberts’ renewable endowment fund will try to attract, support, and integrate indigenous students at McGill, by a mix of recruitment outreach, bursaries, scholarships and cultural activities.

“The Eberts gift will make a tremendous difference. This endowment will help attract, support and retain promising indigenous students of Métis, Inuit, native (both ‘status’ and ‘non-status’), Maori and Aboriginal heritage,” said Waneek Horn Miller, newly-appointed coordinator of the First Peoples’ House of McGill.

One area likely to benefit most directly is recruitment from aboriginal communities.

“We want them to know about opportunities for studying here, and we would like to make it easier for them to consider choosing McGill,” said Sylvia Franke, registrar and executive director of McGill’s Admissions, Recruitment and Registrar’s Office.

Eberts will support:

* First Peoples’ Entrance Bursaries valued at $6,000 per year to support three indigenous or Inuit students on a renewable basis.
* First Peoples’ Bursary Recruitment Fund to build recruitment activities for the Eberts Bursaries.
* First Peoples’ House Support, in annual grants of $6,000 to $18,000, to fund the social integration of indigenous students and the Eberts bursary recipients at McGill.

McGill will provide facilities, social activities and networking opportunities for indigenous students, giving them a “home away from home” and helping ease their integration into McGill and Montreal. Activities will include Pow Wows, hot lunch programs, elder visits, guest lectures, housing support, academic counselling and a mentoring program.

Founded in 1821, McGill University has 21 faculties and professional schools, which offer more than 300 programs from the undergraduate to the doctoral level. There are approximately 23,000 undergraduate students and 7,000 graduate students.

On Sept. 15, the First Peoples’ House will host its annual pow wow in the lower field of the downtown campus from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. to honor Eberts and his family. All are welcome and admission is free.