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
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
NDP want Liberals to scrap proposed election date change that could secure pensions for many MPs
The federal New Democrats want to amend the Liberal government's electoral reform legislation to scrap the proposal to push back the vote by a week and consequently secure pensions for dozens of MPs, CTV News has learned.
Supreme Court won't hear appeal in Montreal brainwashing experiments case
The Supreme Court of Canada will not review a Quebec ruling that bars people from suing the U.S. government in Canada over its role in notorious brainwashing experiments at a Montreal psychiatric hospital.
Video shows driver in Toronto frantically getting out of car being pushed by truck
A CP24 camera caught the moment a driver frantically got out of her car as it was being dragged by a truck on Avenue Road Wednesday afternoon.
These are the world's 20 best cities for foodies, according to Time Out
Some travellers pick a city break based on the destination’s cultural offerings. Others eye up cities with buzzy nightlife or opt for a destination hosting a festival or event. But for many vacationers, the most exciting part of any trip is the food.
Israeli centrist party proposes vote to dissolve parliament
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party proposed on Thursday holding a parliamentary vote on dissolving the parliament, but it was unclear whether he had enough support to bring about an early election.
Exorbitant fees get Gazans out with no help from Ottawa
The comforting sound of giggling grandchildren has chased away the cloud of anxiety that has loomed over Mohammed and Intisar Nofal's home for the past seven months.
Largest vaccine production plant in Canada opens in Toronto
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is announcing the opening of a major vaccine production plant in Toronto today — part of Canada's efforts to build up the domestic biomanufacturing sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.