A foundation which works to support Indigenous students at Canadian Universities has ended an agreement and returned a $500,000 endowment to the Sisters of Saint Ann organization.

The Verna J Kirkness Education Foundation (VJKF) announced Tuesday they are terminated the 4.5 year relationship with the catholic organization for a variety of reasons.

Speaking on the NL Noon Report, Board Chair Tony Williams says the decision rooted after the 215 suspected unmarked graves were discovered in Kamloops in May last year.

“The Sisters of Saint Ann was one of the organizations that worked at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, so we right away had an issue that we had to look at.”

Williams says the foundation’s belief is the Sisters of Saint Ann have not taken responsibility or apologized for their role in the Residential Schools.

As a foundation that helps support education for Indigenous students, Williams explains it became apparent to the board to terminate the agreement and return money.

“We had an agreement with them that sort of required us to report on what we were doing, and if we wanted to make any changes to our programs, we would in essence might have had to ask their permission to do that, and in the end, we just did not think that was appropriate,” he said.

As an organization that focuses on supporting Indigenous students go to college and university, Williams says they says they want to show their complete support for the survivors and victims of residential schools.

“We need to have independence of our decision making and we actually thought that having a relationship with the Sisters of Saint Ann might impede our ability to raise other money or to have some Indigenous students participate in our program if their parents had been survivors of residential schools, they might not want to associate with our foundation.”

The Verna J. Kirkness Education Foundation works to address the under representation of Indigenous students in Canada, specifically in STEM programs.

“The percentage of the population that are scientists and mathematicians is very low among indigenous people and our foundation is trying to do things to correct that,” adds Williams.

It was established roughly 12 years ago.

The Sisters of Saint Ann issued a statement in response to the Verna Kirkness Education Foundation’s return of the $500,000 donation.

“The Sisters of Saint Ann feel profound sorrow for the legacy of residential schools and are fully committed to playing a positive role in the healing and reconciliation journey. As part of that effort, we partnered with the Verna J. Kirkness Education Foundation on an endowment that would enhance educational opportunities for Indigenous students, giving them the opportunity to study on university campuses and conduct independent research with faculty mentors,” the statement said.

“We are saddened at the decision made by the foundation to return our donation and hope that Indigenous students continue to receive these opportunities while the foundation works to address the problem of Indigenous under-representation at Canadian universities. We wish the foundation every success in the future and remain open to working with them.”

“We understand that truth comes before reconciliation, and in that spirit strive to be as transparent as possible, including our recent commitment to transfer all our residential school records to the Royal B.C. Museum. We welcome open dialogue about the role that the Sisters of Saint Ann played in residential schools, including with partners that we support financially. Reconciliation is achieved by listening and learning with humility, and it is always our preference to engage constructively with our critics, while working together towards common goals,” added the statement.

“We will continue to support projects that contribute to reconciliation, healing and Indigenous education. This includes re-directing the returned donation to an organization focused on creating a brighter future for Indigenous peoples in Canada and open to walking a path toward reconciliation with the Sisters of Saint Ann. We look forward to listening to Indigenous voices about how our resources can best be used on the long journey to reconciliation.”