A Fredericton, New Brunswick couple has established a new bursary at St. FX University to provide emergency funding for Indigenous Canadian students in need of immediate financial
Graydon and Beth Nicholas of Fredericton, New Brunswick
help. Graydon and Beth Nicholas, both St. FX graduates and long time supporters of the school, have donated $210,000 to create the Hatchette Nicholas Bursary Endowment. Graydon Nicholas, a former judge, New Brunswick’s first Indigenous lieutenant governor and recently appointed as Chancellor of St. Thomas University, says this fund will allow Indigenous students to get the help they need.
The bursary honours the memory of Beth’s brother Rick Hatchette, who also attended St. FX. Beth, a retired lawyer, says she received a scholarship from St. FX in 1967, so giving back to the university was important to her.
Rick Hatchette, also a lawyer, was a strong advocate for Indigenous Rights; serving as an adjudicator with the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat and legal advisor for the Saint John River Valley Tribal Council
The donation is being matched by the Jeanine Deveau Education Equity Foundation, doubling the endowment fund to $420,000.