Senator profile: Allan Adam

Though the challenges faced by these students are many, Adam said that meeting them head on could be as simple as exploring the use of English as an additional language programs.

"It's not only people coming into Canada, immigrants and so forth," he said. "A lot of our students that come out of the northern program, English is not their first language."

Adam is lobbying for his community through his position with the U of S senate, where he sits on the executive committee. He is also the elected member for district 10, which covers northeast Saskatchewan and includes communities such as Stony Rapids and Sandy Bay.

Senate is a governing body made up of representatives from the U of S both past and current, including students, past and current chancellors, the university president, vice-presidents, deans, elected members of our alumni representing areas across Saskatchewan and around the world, representatives of organizations with a connection to the university such as professional governing bodies, and the minister and deputy minister of advanced education.

Though he has only sat on senate since 2015, Adam said that working with these sort of groups is an integral part of making a difference for both the U of S community and his own.

“For my people, the Dené people, you have to be a part of senate or executive and those kinds of things in order to influence any change and inclusions. That’s one of my interests, to make sure our voice is heard from the north as well.”

Senate election is open now and continues until June 16. All alumni are invited to vote at usask.ca/senate-election.