Reluctant Future 40 recipient Nahanni Olson is pleased she said yes to opportunity

Nahanni Olson admits she was uneasy when her sister approached her about nominating Olson for CBC Saskatchewan's Future 40. 

Olson, a member of the Onion Lake Cree Nation, was the Indigenous Student Advocate at Saskatoon's Bedford Road Collegiate at the time and was enjoying the opportunity to connect with and mentor Indigenous high school students. She says she was in no way seeking the spotlight.

"I immediately said no. It was not something that I would ever ask for, but my sister is just incredibly generous with her time and with her praise. She is constantly trying to lift others up."

Olson eventually agreed to be nominated on one condition: that she could in turn nominate her sister, Lua Gibb, for her work in Saskatchewan's justice system. Gibb was appointed a provincial judge in 2020 and both received Future 40 awards that year.

"It felt amazing and I was really proud that year because we were both selected," said Olson. 

Being a part of the Future 40 process offered Olson a glimpse into what Indigenous leaders were doing in other parts of Saskatchewan. For the career educator, it was a wonderful chance to not only network, but to be inspired. 

"I'm always trying to connect our students with these stories and people. I really appreciated how Indigenous people were being recognized for the amazing things that they were doing."

A passion to lead

Olson has been a leader and mentor to Indigenous students for more than a decade. In 2008, she started her teaching career in Saskatoon before becoming Bedford Road Collegiate's first Indigenous Student Advocate in 2017.

In 2021, Olson embarked on a new challenge at the University of Saskatchewan when she became the co-ordinator of a new Indigenous student mentorship program called Building Intercultural Resilience Mentorship (BIRM). It pairs University of Saskatchewan students with Indigenous high school students in Saskatoon. 

Olson loves how this new mentorship program offers Indigenous high school students guidance on how they can continue their education and also gives the university students the chance to learn from their mentees.

Jocelyne Chief was one of the mentors when BIRM started last year. She jumped at the chance to make a difference in the lives of Indigenous youth and to work with Olson, who she has looked up to for years.

Chief attended Bedford Road Collegiate when Olson was the Indigenous Student Advocate. She credits Olson with giving her the confidence to celebrate her culture at school.

"She is actually the one that influenced me to wear ribbon skirts on campus and within classrooms," said Chief. "Before that, I didn't see ribbon skirts being worn on a regular basis. With my family we just wore them to ceremonies. When I started seeing Nahanni wearing them, I asked my parents, 'are ribbon skirts something you can wear on a daily basis?' And they said, 'yeah, you can wear them anywhere.'"

Growing the BIRM program

BIRM has expanded to three Saskatoon schools this year: Mount Royal, Bedford Road and Tommy Douglas Collegiate. 

Olson is thrilled that more mentor-mentee relationships will develop and has big plans for growing BIRM in the years to come.

One of her first steps was attending the Indigenous Peoples Conference for Education in Adelaide, Australia, in September. Olson met Indigenous educators from around the world and is eager to share what she learned with her students. 

She was especially impressed by a similar program also happening in Australia.

"Connecting with the Ganbina program, which is the program that we at BRIM are modelled after in part, was amazing. It's been running in part for 25 years in Australia and it has been providing Indigenous students with support from age nine all the way through graduation. Ganbina is something I really look up to as a program and model, and I really look forward to continuing to learn from them."