CROW

Up Against
Ignorance
At most Canadian universities, Indigenous studies is
not a prerequiste. At the University of Regina, some
students feel it’s time for a change.
by Ntawnis Piapot
Photos by TORY GILLIS
The man in the next vehicle was parked way
too close. When Julianne Beaudin-Herney
tried to pull out, he jumped out of his car and
started swearing. Then he crossed over and
punched the driver’s side window—the only
thing separating him from her. Beaudin-Herney
yelled at him. He tried to punch the window again. So
Beaudin-Herney opened the door, slammed it on the man’s
hand and didn’t let go. She told him to apologize. “I don’t
have to apologize to you, you little Indian,” he growled.
Beaudin-Herney thought about her options. She
decided if she broke his hand, it wouldn’t make him
a better person. So she opened the door and let his
hand go. The man retreated to his car and drove away,
but not before calling her a fucking bitch. She gave
him the finger. “It might have been kind of a rank response,”
she recalls. “He thought I wouldn’t fight back.”
Today Beaudin-Herney has found a new way to fight
back. The battleground has shifted to the University of
Regina campus, where the 20-year-old is majoring in
indigenous studies through the First Nations University
of Canada, a U of R-affiliated campus. In November
2011, she began circulating a petition calling for indigenous
studies to be a mandatory class for all U of R
students. By April 2012, the petition had gained 1,300
signatures and some cautious support from university
administrators. In a comment posted on the petition’s
Facebook page, Rick Kleer, U of R Dean of Arts,
indicated the motion has to go through several steps
and committees before becoming policy, adding, “I am
hopeful it will pass, but this is by no means certain yet.”
22 THE CROW Fall 2012 Fall 2012 THE CROW 23