Ron Ratte joined Northlands College management last month. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

New staff

Ratte settling in as Indigenous Initiatives Manager at Northlands College

Dec 11, 2019 | 5:00 PM

Ron Ratte will be breaking new ground as Northlands College’s first Indigenous initiatives manager.

He officially joined the staff Nov. 25 after spending 22 years working in justice. Ratte stated he was looking for change when he decided to apply for the position, but he also believes he has the skills for the manager role based on other jobs he’s held in the community.

“I am humbled and grateful for Northlands College giving me this opportunity to be here and work with them with whatever it is we have to do,” he said. “It didn’t take long for me to get hired after the interview.”

Ratte, who is a Lac La Ronge Indian Band member, spent 14 of the last 22 years as a youth worker with Corrections and Policing. He most recently worked for the Prince Albert Grand Council Alternative Measures Program, along with a reintegration program. Ratte currently serves as the chairperson of the Citizens Advisory Committee in the Saskatchewan prairie region with the Parole Board of Canada.

Since joining the staff at Northlands College, Ratte has been visiting with fellow colleagues in other departments to find out what they have been doing to advance the institution’s Indigenization Strategy. He has also visited other organization’s in La Ronge to build a network of supports he might be able to work with in the future.

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“I’m going to be busy doing all sorts of visiting stakeholders and building capacity in a traditional sense,” Ratte said. “I will continue with research and developing partnership around that area.”

Some work Ratte wants to do in the coming months is examine Native Studies 10, 20 and 30 curriculums to ensure the programming and cultural teaching aspects are appropriate. He noted university classes also might need a degree of Indigenization to the curriculum.

Ratte also wants Northlands College to continue supporting a number of causes or issues such as the impact of residential schools, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, HIV awareness and National Indigenous Peoples Day.

“We have to keep in mind there’s over 80 per cent of Indigenous people living in La Ronge … or maybe more,” he said. “We have to look closely how we can manage and integrate whatever the curriculum is all about.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno