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By Christine McLaren
 Buchan
Dianne Buchan, Indigenous governance master's grad, credits her community with instilling in her the desire to learn and the passion to give back.
“All I really knew was that I wanted to give back to my community,” says Buchan, who grew up in Winnipeg but spent summers at the family home in Bearskin Lake First Nation, a remote reserve in Northwestern Ontario and part of the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation.
Her Indigenous heritage and family encouragement compelled her to seek higher education and discover more fully the issues, history, frameworks and relationships that make up who she is. Capacity building and community leadership were at the heart of her personal commitment to higher education. Her passion for the need to assist First Nations communities in their evolving relationships with all levels of government and community organizations drove her to excel.
After receiving a bachelor of arts in history and Native studies, she went on to complete a bachelor's in education so she could return to Bearskin and give back to the community that provided her with an educational foundation and a yearning to learn. Hired as the sole high school teacher in the community, she says, “I firmly believe that I learned much more than I could ever teach to my classroom of nine students.”
She deferred entrance into the Indigenous governance program in order to fulfill another year of teaching in her community. “I wanted to give more to my community and continue to build solid relationships with my students, family and friends.”
In receipt of two scholarships from her traditional territory for academic excellence and with strong support from her family, she moved to Victoria and embarked on her masters in Indigenous governance. Buchan credits the program with transforming her way of thinking critically and analytically and providing her with a framework of strong values and concepts of Indigenous governance.
Currently she is working as a policy analyst in the First Nations Health Council for the Union of BC Indian Chiefs in Vancouver. She will continue to seek ways to contribute her research and, encouraged by her supervisor Dr. Taiaiake Alfred, who initiated a running program for students and alumni, she will complete a personal challenge and run a marathon.
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