UofT student marks history as the first female First Nations Rhodes Scholar
Iakoiehwáhtha Patton is joining the select club of Rhodes Scholars, and the even fewer Indigenous academics to receive the prestigious scholarship—but her path is uniquely her own.
“I’m still taking it all in, it still feels very surreal,” the University of Toronto student told CTV News.
Patton, who goes by Iako, moved to Toronto to study art history. The first thing she did on Saturday when she got the news was call her mom in Kahnawake, the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community outside Montreal.
“My phone rang and I ran outside and she was crying and screaming and she was saying ‘I’m a Rhodes scholar!’ And I was like, oh my god,” Andrea Clair Meloche said. “We couldn't talk, neither of us could speak.”
The call came at the last minute: Patton’s final interview was Saturday, and she was told she would be notified of the selection committee’s decision that night between 5 and 8p.m. The call came at 7:45pm.
Patton says her parents and grandparents instilled in her the importance of education, and made it a priority.
“I was expecting a lot out of her, but she - she overshot,” said her father James Patton, with a smile.
Few Indigenous scholars have been selected for the Rhodes Scholarship. A Metis woman and two Indigenous men have been selected in recent years, but Patton says she believes she would be the first First Nations woman from Canada to join the Rhodes ranks.
As a student of history and an Indigenous woman, Patton says the historical baggage part of the Rhodes Scholarship legacy isn’t lost on her—its namesake, Cecil Rhodes, colonized Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
Patton says it makes her selection and the doors it opens all the more significant.
“It's more than just me, it's more than just a responsibility to myself, but a responsibility I have to my community,” she said. It's a responsibility that I hold for other indigenous scholars and to carve that space.”
Patton, whose biography reports she likes to deadlift and re-read The Hobbit when she isn’t challenging academia, is letting the future after Oxford be an open canvas. All she knows is she wants to pursue her Ph.D.
“Every professor […] every person I have talked to about the Rhodes Scholarship has told me that this opportunity opens doors to things that I can't even imagine,” she said.
As someone who knows a lot about art, she can imagine quite a bit—and achieve even more.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Iran President Ebrahim Raisi found dead at helicopter crash site, state media says
Iranian president, the country’s foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after a search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest.
Court eases internet restrictions for Sask. man who matched with a 15-year-old girl on Tinder
A Saskatchewan man who had a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl he met on Tinder successfully appealed to shorten release conditions barring him from online dating.
Stittsville residents seeking answers as bylaw cracks down on street basketball nets
Stittsville residents on Kearnsley Way are seeking answers after an unusual bylaw crackdown on Friday. Every home with a basketball net received a ticket instructing homeowners to remove their nets from the road.
'A horrible way to start the summer': 3 killed in serious boat crash on lake north of Kingston, Ont.
Three people were killed and five others were injured Saturday night following a boat crash on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
What do we know so far about the mysterious crash of the helicopter carrying Iran's president?
The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's president and foreign minister on Sunday sent shock waves around the region.
Ex-partner charged with first-degree murder after 55-year-old woman killed in Montreal
Less than 24 hours after Montreal's 12th homicide investigation began, Montreal police confirmed that a 55-year-old woman's death in St. Michel is the island's 13th homicide. The woman's ex-spouse has been charged with first-degree murder.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
VIDEO Born without front legs, this dog has been inspiring the world for 3 years: Dresden farm owner
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
Toxic drugs circulating in northeastern Ont., police say
Canada’s largest First Nations police service, the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service issued a community safety alert as extremely toxic drugs are likely circulating in many of the communities it serves.