By Sherri Chisan

1. Leadership &
Management
Program
Blue Quills First Nations College

2. Blue Quills is an
independent
Indigenous
institution.
Mandated is to advance & protect
indigenous knowledge and thought
through education, research, and
community service.
Blue Quills First Nations College

3. to be effective leaders in our
communities and in business, we
need to be whole healthy human
beings
Blue Quills First Nations College

4. Responsive to community
demand, and industry while
grounded in natural law,
spiritual practice, ceremony,
ethics
Blue Quills First Nations College

5. Program
Development
is
responsible
to Seven
Generations
Research is Ceremony
Teaching is a sacred responsibility
Blue Quills First Nations College

6. Land
Language
Ceremony
Relationship
Blue Quills First Nations College

7. In all aspects of life, - family,
community, business - we need to
learn 4 things as human beings:
honour the mystery of Creation
get along with others
do/ make things
think & understand Spiritual
Emotional
Physical
Mental
Blue Quills First Nations College

8. We acknowledge the
ceremonial fire at
the centre of all we
do, we honour our
Mother the Earth,
and the Natural
Laws of Loving
Humble Kindness,
Honesty, Sharing,
and Spiritual
Strength and
Determination.
Blue Quills First Nations College

9. We know that to
sustain the next
generation, we need
to live what we know
SUSTAINING LIFE –
leaving something
for the next seven
generations.
Blue Quills First Nations College

10. We know that ceremony and art are
avenues to opening heart and spirit.
Students participate in creative
activity, not to become artists, but to
apply the skills to creative thinking,
decision making, idea generation,
and human relations.
Blue Quills First Nations College

11. It is time now to do our own educating
our own way, to advance Indigenous
Knowledge, Indigenous research
careers, and Indigenous communities.
Blue Quills First Nations College

12. Our knowledge
systems include
economics,
technology, wealth
distribution, politics,
and some of the
most sophisticated
methods of social
structure and
practice.
Blue Quills First Nations College

13. Guidance is given by kihteyak, our
Elders. They serve as professional
consultants on ceremony, protocol,
Indigenous knowledge, philosophy,
research methods, language
acquisition methods, and
translation. Blue Quills First Nations College

14. But firs t, we ne e d to
unde rs tand
c olonization and
de c olonization:
s tude nts e xpe rie nc e life
trans formations whe n the y unde rs tand the
c olonial proc e s s , the re s ide ntial s c hool
e xpe rie nc e and the inte rge ne rational
e ffe c ts of trauma. First Nations College
Blue Quills

15. Our s tude nts : a s trong s e ns e of s e lf,
grounde d in traditional anc e s tral
knowle dge , s trong e nough to be who
the y are in this world.
I sense the things I want to
accomplish in the future will not be
effective if I don’t work on myself.
I can Vision
being a leader.
Blue Quills First Nations College

16. The best thing about the L & M
Program: is the life skills
that I have picked
up along my
learning journey;
understanding
oneself by
changing, and
realizing you
cannot change
others.
Blue Quills First Nations College

17. I now
know
who I am
– an
educatio
n
warrior.
And
what I
need to
do – hunt
for my
people Blue Quills First Nations College

18. “why isn’t everyone doing this?”
Business clients
have said they have
changed the way
they do business
after training with
us.
Blue Quills First Nations College

19. We know that
our knowledge
has sustained
us for time
immemorial.
The only way we will sustain our selves
into the future is to live what we know.
Blue Quills First Nations College

20. It takes a
certain
amount of
obsession to
be who you
are
Lee Maracle
Blue Quills First Nations College

21. Our Elders say, education is the new
buffalo, then perhaps our
entrepreneurs are our new hunters.
And in the hunt, the honour and
responsibility is in the sharing and
giving.
Blue Quills First Nations College

22. Without talking about
money,
can we talk about what
this will
do for our community?
Instead of talking
about the
dollars we can make,
let’s talk
about the difference
we can
make.
Blue Quills First Nations College

23. Perspective
We look through
our own lens at the
knowledge of the Indige nous le arning
business world me thods offe r s tude nts
around us. a s e ns e of owners hip of
the knowle dge , and
alignme nt with our
traditional knowledge,
bphilos ophie s and
prac tic e s .
Blue Quills First Nations College

24. Business Education Plus
All of the standard
Business Courses
through our own lens
Plus
Cree Identity, Language,
Life Ways, Treaties &
Governance, Historical
Impacts, Contemporary
Issues, Indigenous
Leadership Paradigms.
Blue Quills First Nations College

25. RELATIONSHIPS – BALANCE in
wakohtowin, all our everything we do,
relations and with integrating our
all of creation. personal and
professional lives,
our community and
ECONOMIC business
DEVELOPMEN responsibilities.
T QUESTIONS:
Are our people
honoured? SYSTEMS THEORY
What is the – how structures
spiritual influence our
dimension of
the venture? thinking and
decision making.
Blue Quills First Nations College

26. Those communities that are richest in their
artistic tradition are also those that are the
most progressive in their economic
performance and most resilient
and secure
in their
economic
structure.
John Kenneth Galbraith,
economist
Blue Quills First Nations College

27. We know that our
approach to
leadership and
management
education with
experiential
learning grounded
in traditional
knowledge,
prepares our
students for any
workplace.

28. Our students have
strength in the
key employability
skills identified
by the Conference
Board of Canada:
Communication, thinking & problem
solving, positive behaviours,
responsibility, adaptability, learning
culture, teamwork, and participation.
Blue Quills First Nations College

29. Elders say business is ceremony
where there is no competition, but a
responsibility to serve all our
relations and to ensure that the
knowledge is passed on to the next
generation.
Blue Quills First Nations College

30. Our graduates are working:
band council
tribal law/ policy development
marketing, sales & fundraising
small business/ program
management
research
administration
consulting & advising
master’s degree graduates 100% percent
employment
Blue Quills First Nations College

31. A tension has always existed between the capitalist
imperative to maximize efficiency at any cost and the
moral imperatives of culture which historically have served
as a counterweight to the moral blindness of the market.
This is another example
of the cultural
contradictions of
capitalism —
the tendency over
time for the
economic impulse
to erode the moral
underpinnings
of society.
Michael Pollan
Blue Quills First Nations College

32. A spirit comes into the world
dancing, dancing into the world, ...
and dances out when we are done
our work.
We are not a dying people. We
have so much to offer, so much to
live for.
Edna Manitawabi, Anishinabe
Blue Quills First Nations College

33. Blue Quills First Nations
College
Box 279
St Paul, Alberta, Canada T0A 3A0
Treaty Six Territory
780-645-4455
www.bluequills.ca
sherric@bluequills.ca