Standing Together Against Adversity

The First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) flight training program remains open to students following a devastating 2022 fire that destroyed much of the institute’s campus and hangar facilities in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory of Ontario. External support from Canada’s aviation industry was pivotal to the program’s recovery and the rehousing of students displaced by the tragedy.

In response to the blaze, KF Aerospace—an Approved Maintenance Organization (AMO) and the parent company of both KF Cargo and KF Defense Programs—donated a temporary hangar structure in which aircraft essential to ongoing flight-training at Mohawk Aerodrome (LID/CPU6) could be safely housed. KF Aerospace staff and contractors worked closely with FNTI to identify facility requirements and complete the hangar installation prior to the onset of the fearsome Canadian winter.

KF Aerospace president & CEO, Tracy Medve remarked: “FNTI does incredible work to support indigenous representation in the aerospace sector while also addressing Canada’s critical pilot shortage. We were honored to share our expertise and deliver a timely solution to keep their students flying.”

The First Peoples’ Aviation Technology Program is the only post-secondary indigenous aviation program of its kind in Canada, and provides hands-on flight training for students interested in earning pilot certification, pursuing flying careers, or otherwise working in the aviation industry.

FNTI president Suzanne Brant stated: “The loss of our hangar, AMO, dispatch and planes in February was devastating for FNTI and our aviation students, who come from urban and remote communities across Canada. We are fortunate to have resilient staff who pivoted to provide students with training options, ensuring minimal program interruption. The aviation industry stepped up and offered much-needed contributions toward maintaining uninterrupted pilot training, and providing temporary solutions until our hangar could be rebuilt.”

The First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) is an indigenous-owned and governed post-secondary institute located in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario. The institute’s programming is predicated upon Indigegogy. Coined by Cree elder and educator Stan Wilson, indigegogy is a neologism denoting land-based education based on indigenous knowledge, literature, and methodologies such as circle work and traditional ceremonies and practices. Proponents of the doctrine look upon indigegogy as a decolonizing practice that builds on the resurgence of indigenous ways of knowing, teaching and learning; detractors, however, consider it a divisive ideology supportive of the dissolution of Western, heterogeneous society in favor of a return to tribalism.

FNTI is a registered non-profit/charitable organization. The institute is accredited by the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC), and a member of Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan). Currently, FNTI is undergoing an organizational review by the Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council.

As of July 2020, FNTI had over four-thousand graduates with certificate, diploma, and degree credentials issued in partnership with recognized Ontario colleges and universities. In 2020—in accordance with 2017’s Indigenous Institutes Act—FNTI began awarding standalone bachelor’s degrees. To date, FNTI students have an overall graduation rate of 93-percent, and an employment rate of 98-percent.

FMI: www.fnti.net