By Elaine Smith. Max FineDay, the first indigenous president of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union in the school’s 106-year history, jokingly likens himself to another North American trailblazer — President Obama, the first African-American president of the United States.
“It’s really weird to be a role model,” said the fourth-year politics student from the Sweetgrass First Nation in Saskatchewan, who was elected to represent the 17,000 undergraduates at the university, which is in Saskatoon. “My role models are people like Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Canada.” More...

Report says Canadian post-secondary institutions are striking troubling agreements for cash.Cash-strapped Canadian universities are signing an alarming number of deals with donors that threaten academic freedom, warns a report by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) to be released Wednesday. 
The report, called Open For Business, took a deep look at 12 campus-corporate collaborations in research and teaching, and found only half protect universities’ control over academic matters such as curriculum and hiring, only two prohibit professors from having a financial interest in the donor organization, only five guarantee the university unlimited right to publish its research findings and only two of the agreements are public. More...

Halifax police are issuing a warning about a tuition scam targeting Asian students. Police recently received a complaint from a student about a scam involving promises of better educational opportunities. 
Officers say the complainant, who is Asian, was approached by an Asian man who offered to help the student get into a university in Ontario. Police say the student was asked to provide a hefty administration fee along with an upfront fee to start the process and take English language training. Read more...