Financial Empowerment: First Nations University of Canada

1. Financial Empowerment: First Nations University of Canada FCAC 2017 National Conference November 2nd, 2017 Montreal, Canada

2. Financial Empowerment Course • In Fall 2016, First Nations University of Canada offered Financial Empowerment, a course designed to introduce students to the basics of personal finance and financial literacy. • In total, 80 students enrolled in the course from across two FNUniv campuses and from four Northlands College campuses: La Ronge, Buffalo Narrows, Île-à-la-Crosse and Creighton. In total, 70 completed the course.

3. Course Objectives • FNUniv’s Financial Empowerment course seeks to support students in building the capacity to make solid financial decisions through an introduction to key concepts such as credit, debt, saving, interest rates, and more. • The course utilizes many of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC) resources and tools in order teach students key financial literacy concepts. • The course also utilizes many Indigenous financial literacy resources written by First Nations Development Institute, First Nations Oweesta Corporation and AFOA BC as well as other culturally-relevant materials.

4. Culturally-Relevant Teachings • The course attempts to teach certain financial literacy concepts through the history and worldview of Indigenous peoples. • For Indigenous peoples, colonization has denied many equal access to money, economic opportunities, financial literacy education, financial institutions, and much more. • It was, in fact, the pursuit of money that fueled many conquests that colonized and displaced Indigenous peoples in Canada and throughout the world. Therefore, the pursuit of money can sometimes be viewed with skepticism and disapproval.

5. Culturally-Relevant Teachings • In order to incorporate Indigenous worldviews and perspectives into this textbook, six elders from FNUniv were interviewed as part of the adaptation of an Open Access Personal Finance textbook through University of Regina Press. • The textbook adaptation took place in 2017 and was adapted in order to offer the following possibilities: • A text that includes Indigenous and non-Indigenous content in order enhance the learning experience of all Canadians; • A free text that is relevant to, and can be accessed by, all Canadians; • A student-friendly text that provides a solid foundation in personal finance; • A comprehensive text that offers a wide range of pedagogical aids.

6. Culturally-Relevant Teachings • The course and textbook adaptation attempt to share some of the pre-contact and post-contact histories of Aboriginal peoples as well as present-day financial information relevant to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. • The Aboriginal Financial Officers of Canada BC (AFOA BC) states, “during pre-contact times, Aboriginal peoples were strong and self-sustaining, with strong values that guided how resources and assets were used, how people traded with one another and how wealth was shared” (2011). • These skills were passed down and helped many Aboriginal peoples and communities survive the financial exclusion and cultural and systemic barriers that came with colonization.

7. Culturally-Relevant Teachings • The Building Native Communities financial literacy curriculum, produced by First Nations Development Institute and First Nations Oweesta Corporation, places great emphasis on traditional resource management as a financial literacy concept; it teaches us how “our actions today affect the resources that we will have available in the future” (FNDI and FNOC, 2015, p. 74). • As Oweesta and First Nations Development Institute point out, “For years, our people have understood and practiced the present-day concepts of budgeting and savings. We managed our resources through conservation so that they lasted throughout the year by saving additional supplies for future use. Our people also saved for the purpose of acquiring goods that we could not produce ourselves. By producing more than the community needed, we had goods to trade,” (FNDI and FNOC, 2015, p. 1).

8. Reconciliation and Financial Literacy • The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has stated that in order for reconciliation to be achieved, apologies and reparations are not enough; real social, political, and economic change is needed (2015, p. 185). • The 94 calls to action issued by the TRC is meant to guide this change in Canada. One of the 94 calls to action issued by the TRC is to develop culturally appropriate curricula that incorporates culture, history, and worldviews; these are key components of culturally-appropriate educational resources (Weaver, 1999). • As stated by Dominque Collins, author of Aboriginal Financial Literacy in Canada, culturally adapted and relevant training has been developed and shown to be effective (Collins, 2011).

9. Forward Visions Games • In the fall of 2016, FNUniv leveraged Forward Vision Games’ technology, lessons and instructor supports. • FVG’s signature financial simulation game provided students with the opportunity to manage a virtual store over the course of the semester. Through making decisions about the store’s management, as challenges and opportunities arose within the game, students were empowered to see the causes and effects of their financial decision-making over the long-term. • While students were awarded points within the game for saving, debt management and more, the primary purpose of the game was to support students in grasping key topics as well as competency and skill development in financial literacy, including: saving, debt, credit, interest, and more.

10. Key Goals and Outcomes • Improved financial decision-making: 93% of students indicated that the course influenced the way they make financial decisions. • Knowledge sharing with friends, family and community about learnings: 67% of students indicated that during the course, they shared what they had learned in class with family, friends and/or community. • In total, an estimated 150 people who did not take the course received some knowledge and benefit from a student who did.

11. Key Goals and Outcomes • Increased use of financial goal setting and financial planning: In a post-course survey, 80% of students indicated that they now have financial goals that they will pursue after having taken the class. The FCAC financial goal setting resources were heavily relied upon. • Distance student retention/engagement: Financial Empowerment was provided to students via videoconference in the following classroom locations: Regina, Prince Albert, La Ronge, Buffalo Narrows, Île-à-la-Crosse and Creighton.

12. Key Goals and Outcomes • Two of the top performing students in the class and in the game were students who live full-time on reserve, and who were accessing the course from a remote classroom. Such findings demonstrate the course and game’s ability to drive student engagement and student retention. • Learning to manage financial products: The course, and in particular their Forward Vision Games’ game play experience, provided students with life-like opportunities to practice using these tools, giving students greater confidence in their ability to properly manage financial products.

13. Key Goals and Outcomes • Improved entrepreneurial confidence: In post-course surveys, many students expressed gratitude that the course had provided them with the opportunity to learn financial literacy both in the context of their personal lives and within the context of prospective entrepreneurial endeavours. • By providing students with an opportunity to build business-focused financial literacy early in life, FNUniv sets up students for improved entrepreneurial performance, to the benefit of students, communities and the economy.

14. Conclusion • Following the course, the overall tone of students toward financial management was very positive. • Students indicated having developed proactive plans for debt-management, and a number even noted ways they would leverage new financial products to support savings targets and debt management. • Furthermore, students found the course helped them to learn more about themselves and how to apply this learning to improve their personal finances.

15. Conclusion • Course findings also demonstrate strong evidence of both better student financial management and also a shift in the way students view financial products — from simply ‘having a product’ because they were able to access it, to leveraging a product as a means to support the achievement of a financial goal. • The evidence mentioned in this presentation indicates that this course has the potential to support long-term student financial stability and well-being, benefiting nations and communities.