Moment of chance proves life-changing for indigenous scholar
A moment of chance proved life-changing for Visiting Indigenous Scholar Emerald UnRuh...
A moment of chance proved life-changing for Visiting Indigenous Scholar Emerald UnRuh, who is at the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law for three months working as a student editor on the Māori Law Review.
Emerald, of Métis descent (one of the official aboriginal peoples of Canada, along with Inuit and First Nations) competed for a prestigious university scholarship in her home region of Canada – Pitt Meadows, outside Vancouver in southwestern British Colombia – in 2014/15.
“I was 17 at the time and had to fill out a long application and submit answers to several different essay questions, before moving onto regional interviews. After that, I was told I wasn't going through to a national selection, so was out of the running for the scholarship. But then another student dropped out, and I got a shot at the national interviews,” Emerald says.
In that moment of chance, Emerald had made it down from the 3800 who applied to the final 75 competing nationally.
“The national interviews were in Toronto (in February 2015) and I’d never been there before. There were about 75 young people from across Canada and it was an amazing experience meeting everyone. Just chatting and hearing what all the other students had to say was so rewarding – everyone was so inspiring.
“I did six interviews over three days and they asked deep and probing questions like what was my biggest failure and why? And who was my biggest hero?
“My biggest hero has always been my grandmother, she was a strong aboriginal woman I really looked up to, and I can’t even begin to describe how inspiring she was. I’ve always tried to follow in her footsteps and make her proud. She had passed away, and so I started to cry. Because of the crying, I thought they would never pick me, that I’d blown the interviews.
“But then I found out I had won a spot. I never thought that at 18 (years of age) I would have one of those moments where my entire life completely changed. But I did. And it has been one big, crazy journey that I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Just 30 Loran Scholarships are given out across Canada each year to exceptional young Canadians who demonstrate character, service and leadership.
One of the scholarship conditions was choosing a university outside your home province, so Emerald picked one about as far away as she could and enrolled in the University of Ottawa in Ontario, where she has been for a year, studying international development and globalisation. However, Emerald plans to study law, which, paired with her passion for indigenous issues, has drawn her to New Zealand and Victoria’s law school.
As a Visiting Indigenous Scholar at the MāoriLaw Review, Emerald has already written articles, including one about Canada endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“I am learning a lot about the law and indigenous peoples in New Zealand. Here you have the Treaty of Waitangi and what I have learned about that can be of benefit back home. I feel so lucky to be able to learn about how the law affects Māori here, I know it will help me better understand relations between policy and aboriginal peoples in Canada,” Emerald says.
She values her indigenous heritage and says she comes from a long line of strong women. Métis peoples generally come from a mix of First Nations women and French or British men and Emerald grew up with the stories of her maternal grandmother, including how her great-grandmother walked across the province of Manitoba with her three children. Large numbers of Métis moved out of Manitoba when it was brought into Canada as a province and the Métis were denied land promised to them by the Government.
Her grandmother spoke her own language – Michif, which is a mix of Cree and Métis French – and when Emerald was growing up, passed on her culture. Emerald also looks up to her mother, who is an aboriginal support worker in schools.
“My mom is another huge inspiration of mine – she is so caring, so giving. The work she does is phenomenal and she’s making a huge difference in the lives of these kids. She’s teaching them about their cultures, she’s supporting them in their academics, and she’s a friend and ally to anyone who needs it. I’m so proud of her, and I’m so lucky to be her daughter. She and the rest of my family are so strong, have always stood behind me, and make everything I do possible.”
Having never been away from home for more than 10 days prior to winning the scholarship, Emerald has embraced her experiences and is enjoying her time in Wellington – not finding it as cold in the winter as the locals might! She is at the law school until the end of July.