Margaret Dutli Professional and Community Service Award

STM’s Professional and Community Service Committee is very pleased to announce that this year’s winner of the Margaret Dutli Professional and Community Service Award is Henri Biahé.

Dr. Biahé, a professor in the Languages, Literatures, and Cultural Studies department, has been an advocate for French language learning and the French culture of Saskatchewan during his time at St. Thomas More College. He has not only been involved with promoting French learning through STM’s Recruitment Office alongside Linda Huard by giving lectures to high school students, but he has also been the coordinator of the USask en Français student group. Moreover, he is one of the creators of the Fransaskois Participatory Research Collaborative (FPRC), a research group that seeks to contribute to the Fransaskois community at a grassroots level, assert that value of the multi-communal French language in Saskatchewan, and promote the literary, artistic and cultural life of the provinces’ Francophone community.

Alongside Dr. Biahé’s commitment to the French cultures of Saskatchewan is his commitment to The Saskatoon Open Door Society and the Black Community of Saskatoon. In his involvement with these communities, Dr. Biahé has begun to work closely with community leaders in order to address the systemic barriers facing these communities and consult on appropriate paths of action needed within Saskatoon.

Our committee has no doubt that Dr. Biahé’s passion for community engagement through his professional service is a motivating feature of his life, and we also feel that his strong ties to the community will only grow through his upcoming projects. It is for these reasons and beyond that the PCS committee is pleased to be able to honour Dr. Biahé with the Margaret Dutli Professional and Community Service Award.