Max FineDay, the president of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union. Photo from University of Saskatchewan News

Canada is home to 600,000 young Native people and many are working hard to succeed in higher education in light of the difficulties their ancestors faced at residential schools.

One of them is Max FineDay, from the Sweetgrass First Nation. He's the first Native president of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union in the school's 160-year history.

“My father went to residential school,” FineDay told The New York Times. “We know that education is an indigenous value, but the history of education is not a happy one for Aboriginal people."

Nationally, only 13 percent of Native adults had university degrees, according to the 2006 census, compared to 33 percent of the general population. To change that legacy, universities across the country are creating programs to ensure Native students graduate.

“It’s a holistic model that addresses the student as a whole person,” Kristina Bidwell, the associate dean for Aboriginal affairs at the University of Saskatchewan, told the Times, referring to the Aboriginal Student Achievement Program. “It comes down to knowing each one of these students and addressing what they need.”

Get the Story:
Canadian Universities Strive to Include Indigenous Cultures (The New York Times 11/18)