Cree grandmother Doreen Spence scholarship
In honour of Cree Grandmother Doreen Spence, this scholarship recognizes how Indigenous students embrace traditional teachings of "All My Relations". Indigenous students are invited to share their story of how they are integrating teachings of "All My Relations" as Helpers with community and MRU studies. Grandmother encourages everyone to wholeheartedly support this next generation of Helpers.
“We are all relatives. All beings are created equal and interconnected as Wahkohtowin.” - Grandmother Doreen Spence (Saddle Lake Cree Nation)
“Recognize everything as alive and elemental to your being. There is nothing that matters less than anything else. By virtue of its being, all things are vital, necessary and a part of the grand whole, because unity cannot exist where exclusion is allowed to happen” - Richard Wagamese (passed in 2017, Wabaseemoong Independent Nations)
Elder Grandmother Doreen Spence (Saddle Lake Cree Nation) is an Indigenous rights activist. Her sacred name is Bald Eagle Woman Who Leads. She has been recognized with the Order of Canada, Indspire, honorary MRU degrees (BN & Doctor of Laws), and is a Nobel Peace prize nominee for the project 'PeaceWomen Across the Globe'. For decades, Grandmother has supported MRU within and beyond the classroom, including reconciliation and co-learning with Elders and the land. With humble gratitude for Grandmother, this scholarship was started by nursing faculty & oskâpêwis/cultural helper Dr Andrea Kennedy, and further supported by many around the world who carry Grandmother's legacy of unconditional loving-kindness with All My Relations.
Grandmother recognizes how teachings of ‘All My Relations’ are an important foundation for students, to honour how ways of being, knowing and doing are interdependent in relationships within the ecosystem. This philosophy of relationality is the foundation for love of all beings (Deloria, 1989). Grandmother brings these teachings forward with respect for ancestors, Elders, and all beings as relatives in the natural laws of Wahkohtowin.
It is important for students as Helpers to integrate teachings of ‘All My Relations’ since Indigenous Knowledges are developed in direct response to the interconnected ecosystem (Battiste, 2013). Within their community, students are recognized as Helpers who consistently demonstrate unconditional loving kindness for all beings, starting with their own self - the journey starts from within. Helpers understand how we are all relatives through this complex worldview of interconnection with all beings including the planet. With open hearts and minds, Helpers steadily embody actions of loving-kindness with respect, humility, courage, honesty, truth, and wisdom.