Student Bursary
Bridging worlds: Candace's journey of reconciliation and connection
Sep 23, 2025
The letters blurred together on the page as Candace struggled through another assignment. Learning disabilities had shadowed her throughout school, but as a Métis student from a financially struggling family, university felt impossible. Then long COVID struck during her first year at the University of Calgary, adding chronic fatigue and brain fog to her existing challenges. For many days, just getting to class felt like a victory.
The
TELUS Student Bursary
changed everything. The bursary empowered her to pursue her post-secondary goals with renewed determination, while the validation gave her courage to advocate for the accommodations she needed at the University of Calgary.Candace's transformation into a bridge-builder began with her community work. As Communications Director for the Indigenous student circle at the University of Calgary, she led successful donation drives and developed comprehensive materials about Indigenous support services, ensuring fellow Indigenous students could easily access the resources they needed to thrive academically.
Her impact expanded beyond campus when she secured a pivotal internship with Suncor, where she contributed to their Indigenous Workforce Development and Diversity & Inclusion strategy. In this role, Candace bridged cultural understanding and created meaningful opportunities for Indigenous representation in the corporate world, demonstrating how authentic reconciliation happens through Indigenous leadership and voice.
Working with local Indigenous organizations, Candace created mentorship circles where young people could share their struggles without shame. She organized workshops on learning differences, showing youth that their minds worked beautifully, just differently. Her community programming expanded to include wellness support for Indigenous students dealing with chronic health conditions, drawing from her own experience with long COVID.
"Our struggles don't define our limits," Candace tells the youth who gather around her. "They become our superpowers for helping others."
Through partnerships with Elders and community leaders, she's building bridges between traditional healing practices and modern educational support. Her work has reached hundreds of Indigenous students across the region, creating networks of connection and support that strengthen entire communities.
The TELUS Student Bursary didn't just enable Candace to continue her education, it motivated a leader to transform her greatest challenges into powerful tools for systemic change.
Today, she continues her studies while expanding her influence on campus and through her work, ensuring Indigenous voices shape the future of education, workforce development, and community connectivity. Her journey exemplifies how investing in Indigenous students creates leaders who champion meaningful change for themselves and others around them.
