An official with Assiniboine College says more than one in four domestic graduates were Indigenous this year, as the school moves forward with its strategic plan, including a key commitment to support Indigenous students.
Director of communications Anya McNabb confirmed to the Sun on Thursday that 26 per cent of domestic graduates in the 2024-25 school year were Indigenous. The college laid out a key commitment to ensure Indigenous students are reflected as their share of the Manitoban population, as laid out in the school’s strategic plan.
“Our province needs us to help build a more egalitarian society and we are rising to meet that challenge,” the college states in its official plan. “We have made solid progress and momentum is building.”
The strategic plan lays out goals for the years 2024 to 2030.
Shayla Pruden, a student who is returning to the school of business this September, told the Sun that services the college provided were a big benefit for her college experience. The cultural centre, a space for students to relax, was most important to her.
“They made me feel very comfortable and safe,” said Pruden. “That’s what I love about how open they are with Indigenous students and other students as well.”
Pruden said she found community in the program and eventually wound up contributing to the centre. She took on the role of a peer mentor for other students as well.
“It was a really great experience from the teachers and the students that I met along the way,” she said. “Obviously, when you first start college, it’s a whole new experience.
“And especially for me — I was just getting into culinary arts and cooking, and I didn’t know as much as I wanted to, so that’s why I applied for it. And it was just an overall amazing experience for me.”
Last year, Assiniboine was awarded with a bronze medal in Indigenous Education at the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics annual congress. The college posted that Indigenous students represented 56 per cent of students in programs delivered in community-based settings; and that 92 per cent of Indigenous graduates were employed within six months, with 97 per cent choosing to live and work in Manitoba after graduating.
The college’s strategic plan states that the school aims to keep the percentage of Indigenous students reflecting or surpassing the share of Manitobans who are Indigenous. Based on the most recent census, this year’s number of graduates went above the mark, with 26 per cent compared to the share of Manitobans who are Indigenous, pegged at about 18 per cent in 2021.
