The TeKnoWave Story As Unique As the Initiative Itself

TeKnoWave was built on a wave of dreams – a vision! It’s an inspiring story of giving and unique partnerships. When asked how TeKnoWave came to fruition, Rima Aristocrat, President and CEO of the 108-year old Willis College of Business & Technology, and the Founder and President of TeKnoWave Inc., tells a story as unique as the initiative itself. “The inspiration for the TeKnoWave initiative began  with an event that took place  three years ago  in Winnipeg, where I was presenting papers at an internation al conference. At the end of the day, educators from 20 different countries gathered for an evening of entertainment. George Bear, an Aboriginal “Hoop Dancer” performed his sacred dance. Afterwards, Bear spontaneously gave a personal account of his lack of education and the hardships that Canadian Indigenous people face in achieving higher education.” Bear’s story moved Aristocrat so much that she awarded him with an $18,000 scholarship to Ottawa’s Willis College. The college has since decided to grant a permanent educational scholarship for Aboriginal students named after Joseph Tokwiro Norton (J.T.N.) Grand Chief of the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. The Joseph T. Norton Scholarship is now accompanied by an additional $10,000 stipend for living expenses which has been raised from the Aboriginal private sector, from corporations such as National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Mohawk Internet Technologies and Donna Cona Inc.