COLLEGE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC
College of the North Atlantic and Qalipu First Nation renew MOU

College of the North Atlantic (CNA) and the Qalipu First Nation (QFN) signed a new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Friday. The purpose of the MOU is to further strengthen the relationship between the two and advance common objectives.

CNA and the QFN signed their first five-year MOU in 2018. This second MOU continues and expands on the work undertaken during that period.

In particular, the new MOU will focus on exploring and supporting educational pathways that will allow Qalipu members to complete high school and transition into post-secondary education; developing and delivering unique training and work experience opportunities, exploring entrepreneurial opportunities with economic value for QFN members, exploring applied research projects, collaborating on equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and designing Indigenous rural entrepreneurship initiatives.

Elizabeth Kidd, President and CEO of CNA, says the college and QFN have accomplished a lot together in the past five years, and believes the next five will see further success.

"During our first partnership we completed a needs assessment with QFN members to identify areas of interest for training, developed a Work Integrated Learning project with QFN sponsored students, and completed a research project where we performed 3D scans on Qalipu-owned infrastructure across the province," says Kidd. "We began working on several new projects in 2023, so signing this new five-year MOU allows us to move those forward and continue exploring new areas of collaboration."

Qalipu First Nation Interim Chief Jenny Brake says the partnership with CNA provides many benefits to their membership.

"We value every opportunity to advance our membership through education," says Interim Chief Brake. "The partnership with College of the North Atlantic supports our students, while allowing us to pursue projects and initiatives that ultimately benefit our members. I am optimistic that we can continue to build on these relationships to serve our community."