Kate Young, left, and Jessica Mirasty. (Submitted photos)

By Derek Cornet

post-secondary

First Nations students receive $15K per year scholarships from TD Canada Trust

Jun 5, 2024 | 5:00 PM

Two women from Saskatchewan, including one from La Ronge and another from Meadow Lake, are recipients of the 2024 TD Scholarship for Indigenous Peoples.

They are two of 25 successful applicants, which consist of students from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities from across the country.

Each of the students will receive $15,000 per year for up to four years to cover tuition costs and living expenses. Recipients will also be offered internship opportunities with TD to gain valuable work experience as part of the scholarship program and will receive an offer of full-time employment after the successful completion of their studies.

“It’s a huge honour. The individuals that are selected are incredibly talented and inspiring people, and I am just really excited and honoured to have my name alongside theirs,” said Kate Young, a Lac La Ronge Indian Band member and Churchill Community High School graduate.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity, and I am excited for the networking opportunities that are going to come along with it as well.”

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Young, who lives in Saskatoon, is going into her second year of Indigenous Social Work at the First Nations University of Canada. The program focuses on utilizing culture as the basis for social work practice.

“Seeing the struggles that Indigenous communities go through, I wanted to be able to contribute to the change to make our communities strive, using practices that are suitable for our communities,” she said.

Jessica Mirasty is going into her second year in the Jurist Doctor/Jurist Indigenous Doctor Program at the University of Victoria in the Faculty of Law. The four-year program enables students to graduate with two professional degrees with one in Canadian Common Law and another in Indigenous Legal Orders. Whereas common law refers to casebooks for guidance, Indigenous law looks to nature and to the land for principles of law and order, and ways of creating peace between peoples.

“I am really happy to be winning it,” Mirasty, who is a member of Flying Dust First Nation and a graduate of Carpenter High School, said about the scholarship.

“It is really going to help with my living expenses, especially since I moved out to B.C. The living expenses are really expensive and the cost of living is really expensive in B.C., so this helps out tremendously. I am really happy an organization like TD values Indigenous students like myself.”

Mirasty joined the program following completion of an undergraduate degree because she is interested in advocating for Indigenous people.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com