Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth. (submitted photo)

By Nigel Maxwell

Career accomplishments

Wollaston Lake woman to receive prestigious award from University of Regina

Jul 28, 2020 | 12:46 PM

A former teacher, educator director and Chief for Hatchet Lake First Nation, will receive one of the University of Regina’s highest honours.

Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth was named the 2020 recipient of the Professional Achievement Award, one of five categories for the annual Alumni Crowning Achievement Awards. Tsannie-Burseth told paNOW she was humbled by the experience.

“You know your reaction would be ‘Well I don’t this deserve this,’ but I was quite happy about it,” she said.

Recipients of the awards, who are nominated by their peers, are ultimately recognized for the contributions they have made locally, nationally, and around the world. Tsannie-Burseth has been a leader in education for 30 years as a teacher, a principal, and a director of education.

It was in her early days though while attending a residential at Duck Lake where she discovered her calling, after being told she was not allowed to speak her language.

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“Because of that I kind of made an oath to myself eventually in the future I’d like to work with children in a school system where the language is really important and that should be at the forefront of the curriculum,” she said.

Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth (far right) attended St. Michael’s Residential School at Duck Lake. (submitted photo)

After graduating from the Northern Teacher Education Program (NORTEP) in 1987, Tsannie-Burseth returned to her home community and was asked to teach kindergarten.

“I swear those were the best teaching years of my life because these little ones are not as intimidating and very fast learners,” she said.

As cute as the children were, Tsannie-Burseth quickly learned not one child spoke English and so in order to get through to them, was forced to defy the system and teach the children in the language they were most familiar with.

“As the years progressed I realized our first language is really important as part of the curriculum and also the intelligence that’s already embedded in their cognition and also their culture,” she said.

After a promotion to vice-principal and later principal at the Wollaston Lake School, Tsannie-Burseth encountered another challenge, and it had to do with the teachers coming to the northern community from the South, many of whom were unfamiliar with the culture or the language.

Tsannie-Burseth took it upon herself to help mentor the new teachers but it was also at this time she realized she needed more skills, and so approached the community leaders about taking a leave of absence so she could pursue her masters degree. Not only did the community agree, but Tsannie-Burseth maintained her full salary.

“I’ll never thank enough them for what they have done for me,” she said.

Rosalie and her husband. (submitted photo)

In 2007, Tsannie-Burseth was successful in her to run for chief of her community, and after that was associate director with the Prince Albert Grand Council. Tsannie-Burseth is currently finishing up her PhD, which focuses on the linguistics of the Dene language, as well as the history of the people and their culture.

“I’m gonna wrap all that together to develop curriculum for my community,” she said

The Professional Achievement Award will be added to Tsannie-Burseth’s numerous accolades. She previously accepted the Governor General’s Citizenship Award, the Awasis Award, the Role Model Award, Women of the Dawn Award, and the Lieutenant Governor’s Award.

The 2020 Alumni Crowning Achievement Awards dinner is tentatively scheduled to take place on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021 (pending reopen protocol).

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell