Terry Fox

Aboriginal Student Award paves the way for PhD candidate Terry Fox

Undertaking a PhD program is the challenge of a lifetime. It's expensive, all-encompassing and for Aboriginal student Terry Fox, it was a near impossible dream.

In 2014, Fox was awarded $5,000 by the Irving K. Barber Scholarship Society to help pay for books, tuition and living expenses as she worked on her dissertation on effective First Nations governance in modern times.

As Fox enters her seventh and final year of studies, completing her PhD is in sight and has been made possible through her apt determination and the scholarship awards that she relies on to complete her studies.

"I wouldn't be able to survive without scholarships," says Fox. "I wouldn't be able to complete my program without them." 

Originally from the Stoney Nation in Southern Alberta, Fox moved to Vancouver Island in 1995 to go to school. After completing a Bachelor's Degree, and then a Master's in Public Administration,
Fox was hired by a First Nations health organization.

In 2009, Terry Fox quit her job in senior management to pursue her lifelong dream of obtaining her PhD.

With an intention to counterbalance the negativity and beliefs of corruption in First Nations governments, Fox's dissertation focuses on what First Nations are trying to achieve and examines those that are governing their communities effectively. "There's enough negativity," says Fox. "I want to focus on what is being done well and share those lessons."

While the PhD itself is an enormous challenge, Fox faces other obstacles that have made her journey strenuous at times.

"There is a misconception that First Nations have endless funding for education," says Fox. "Not only is there limited funding, tribal administrations sometimes struggle with capacity and social issues that can make receiving or maintaining sponsorship difficult."

Moreover, support from her community only extends to four years of the seven-year program. Scholarships have allowed Fox to complete the remaining three years of her studies and research.

"I've learned so much doing the dissertation on this subject. It's been personally taxing and sometimes I'm surprised that I'm still here," says Fox. "As First Nations students, we face a lot of additional challenges that might cause other people to quit. But, we remain enrolled because our nations need these degrees to help decolonize and rebuild."

Fox believes wholeheartedly in the capability of First Nations to govern their own affairs and chose to study public administration to support the management and leadership capacity of First
Nations. She hopes to work as an academic and perhaps to become involved in a designation program that integrates her research findings and to share lessons of successful First Nations governance more widely.

The BC Aboriginal Student Award is available for Aboriginal people pursuing post-secondary education and is intended to improve access to education for Aboriginal students. The Irving K. Barber British Columbia Scholarship Society has granted a total of $517,500 to 70 Aboriginal
graduate students in BC.

For more information on the Irving K. Barber Aboriginal Scholarships, visit http://www.ikbbc.ca/web/aboriginal.