Grainswest - Fall 2024

Fall 2024 grainswest.com 41 A graduate of the RCCC one-year certificate program, Kiefer Eagle Bear enrolled in the diploma program as soon as it was offered at the College. First Nation offers ag education Indigenous students launch farm industry careers at Red Crow Community College STORY AND PHOTO BY IAN DOIG member of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Kainai First Nation, also known as the Blood Tribe, is seriously committed to education, and agriculture is a main component. On a hot, late-July day, staff, students and community members gathered near Red Crow Community College (RCCC) in its expansive community garden. The College is located southwest of Lethbridge in Stand Off on the 350,000-acre Kainai reserve. Elder Dennis Chief Calf delivered a traditional blessing for the school’s Farm Field Day. “Knowledge is endless,” said Chief Calf, himself a graduate of the RCCC social work program and now an RCCC advisor. “We learn every day.” Established in 1986, the school was housed in the former St. Mary’s Residential School building, which burned down in 2015. A new, permanent building was opened in October 2022. It features resources such as a historical archive, library and radio broadcast studio and amenities such as a daycare, fitness facility and ceremony room. Since 2019, students have been offered the one-year Niitsitapi Agriculture Certificate while they studied at the RCCC campus with the option to earn a diploma with a second year at Olds College. As of this fall, the two-year diploma in agronomy, animal science and agribusiness is available at RCCC. A CULTURE OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY Blackfoot knowledge and culture, which emphasizes compassion, are woven through all RCCC programs, said President Roy Weasel Fat in his own address to the Field Day crowd. “That is the way we live and how we were able to survive in a harsh environment. Our ancestors were self- sufficient, and we want our young people to know this.” The garden was established so students could feed themselves and their families and learn to establish their own gardens at home. “We became so good at gardening, we gave 50 tonnes of potatoes to the food bank,” he said. The garden now also supplies produce to the school’s culinary program. A graduate of the Lethbridge College agricultural technology program, Weasel Fat worked in the farm industry for 17 years. He went on to study education at the University of Calgary, joined the RCCC staff in 1994 and subsequently earned a master’s of education. In various leadership roles, he was instrumental in the development of RCCC adult literacy programming and the Indigenization of its courses. “We used to farm and ranch our own land. That’s not the case now,” said Weasel Fat. Farming on the Kainai reserve includes livestock, grain and forage operations as well as a bison restoration project. However, many community members whose families once worked the land now rent or lease to non-Indigenous farmers. RCCC aims to give community members the skills to resume farming. “With our agriculture program, we’re elevating our students and our community,” said Weasel Fat. Researchers typically sow test plots to study crop performance or assess new growing methods. This research plot, conducted by the College’s agriculture department, is intended as a learning component for students, to assess the potential of commercial crop production on Kainai land and improve the community’s food security. Weasel Fat turned the proceedings over to Adebusoye Onanuga, who heads the RCCC agriculture, basic science