The University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences has honoured four alumni for their outstanding professional contributions and public service.
Among those honoured was Robert Maytwayashing from Lake Manitoba First Nation.
In 1990 Maytwayashing graduated with a Diploma in Agriculture in the business and financial management stream from the University of Manitoba.
Maytwayashing says his professional career has led him in all kinds of areas.
“My formal training is in agriculture through the diploma program, but somehow I ended up in healthcare. I was also a former leader in my community both as a council member and a chief. I’ve been around the blocked so to speak.”
Maytwayashing is currently employed with the Interlake-Eastern Regional health authority as their Indigenous human resource development officer. Part of that role is providing cultural awareness training to around 3,200 staff.
He says that he is always trying to educate Canadians about the real history of the country.
“Canadians, in general, haven’t got a clue about what’s really gone down in this country. Case in point is the recent discovery of the 215 graves in B.C. We’ve known about these stories for a long time, but it seems not until there’s physical evidence of something are we listened to as Indigenous people.”
Maytwayashing wasn’t expecting to receive this honour, and says that he was humbled and honoured.
