Supporting a voice for those who cannot speak

Shannon Cornelsen

In April of 2023, Shannon Cornelsen was asked to serve as an expert witness to the House of Commons Standing Committee in Ottawa to address the successful graduation rates of Indigenous students and lobby for more funding. But cost was a barrier.

That’s where donor funding made all the difference.

“There’s a lot of cultural capital that you have to be aware of — as an Indigenous person, it’s not really accessible,” says Cornelsen. “So having [the funds from] scholarships, that ‘extra,’ was what allowed me to purchase a blazer so I could go and participate.”

Cornelsen, in the fourth and final year of her BA in Native Studies at the University of Alberta, is one of many U of A students poised to change the world thanks to the support of donors. 

When she decided to pursue an undergraduate degree, Cornelsen had three teenagers at home. The idea of going to school while supporting her teen kids was daunting — until she learned there were scholarships available to help.

“Scholarships are really how I survive. Traditionally within Indigenous communities, we don’t have the same financial resources that are available because of the lack of ownership of the land,” says Cornelsen. “I’ve been raising my kids, so the scholarships are really what keep the lights on in the house.”

She has received more than half a dozen scholarships, including the Undergraduate Leadership Award, the Students’ Union Indigenous Student Award and the Amy and Yuen Wong Scholarship. She has also leveraged the services available at the donor-supported First Peoples’ House.

Cornelsen was inspired to pursue an undergraduate degree after finding handwritten journals from her paternal grandfather. These first-hand accounts spoke of Indigenous people who died in Charles Camsell Hospital in Edmonton – many of them far from home. She felt a purpose solidify inside of her as she read the reports of Indigenous people buried just outside of Edmonton, instead of being transported home to their families. 

“That’s what started my whole journey. I realized there were all of these families that likely did not know where their loved ones were buried,” she says. (Learn more about Cornelsen’s personal journey)

For Cornelsen, this information was personal in more ways than one. While her paternal relatives are settlers to Canada, her mother is a residential school survivor and member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation on Treaty 6 territory. Cornelsen is a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation.

“My own lived experience as an Indigenous woman needs to be shared in spaces that were not created for Indigenous people,” says Cornelsen. “I have a responsibility to represent those who cannot speak for themselves.”

As her undergraduate experience comes to an end, Cornelsen is gathering her research to apply to a master’s degree. She now has a list of more than 100 individuals who were not claimed by their families — and she is still searching.

Cornelsen is also celebrating a personal milestone. This fall, she watched her youngest daughter walk into her first university class at the U of A – one of 2,100 self-declared FNMI students enrolled at the U of A for Fall 2024, the university’s largest cohort to date.

“I sat there and I cried. Universities were not created for Indigenous people. And so the fact that we’re here and we’re pushing forward — I’m just so proud,” she says. “Supporting Indigenous students is a step towards reconciliation. It is an action. It directly impacts the life of that student while they move forward on their education journey.”