University of Saskatchewan focuses on Indigenous support in $500 million campaign

President Stoicheff said the university is striving to close the education gap at the Saskatoon and Prince Albert campuses with goals of Indigenous achievement in mind.

The University of Saskatchewan officially launched an ambitious campaign with a goal of $500 million to advance Indigenous achievement and university growth by June 2025.

The university claims the campaign, ‘Together, we will be what the world needs,” is the largest in Saskatchewan history.

“We have been contributors, not bystanders, in the greatest cultural opportunity that the country has ever faced,” said USask President Peter Stoicheff at a press conference Tuesday.

Stoicheff said the university is striving to close the education gap at the Saskatoon and Prince Albert campuses with goals of Indigenous achievement in mind.

“What we have done over the last several years is really move the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and reconciliation itself over every aspect of the university, so that it is a priority.”

He said the university will focus on scholarships for Indigenous students before and after degrees are earned.

Almost $323 million has already been raised through donations from alumni, community stakeholders, foundations, individuals and families.

“It basically started when I became president, so in the fall of 2015, we started thinking about the fact that we were directing the money that came into the university toward a comprehensive campaign and it took until now to quietly reach the 65 per cent of the wage of the goal,” Stoicheff said.