When incoming University of Saskatchewan president Peter Stoicheff announced in July 2015 that indigenization of the university would be a top priority, he met no resistance from the crowded Convocation Hall, revealing campus support for this movement.

According to Statistics Canada, by 2031 approximately 24 per cent of the total population of Saskatchewan will be made up of Aboriginal people. The U of S already has one of the largest Aboriginal student populations at a research university in Canada. As such, the institution as a whole is continually evolving its programs and initiatives to prepare for and to encourage the cultural transition.

Although indigenization is a fairly contemporary term, with its first usage recorded in the mid-twentieth century, Candace Wasacase-Lafferty, the director of First Nations and Métis engagement at the U of S, speaks to what the concept means to her.

“When we say ‘indigenize the academy,’ I think about what it means to be respectful, knowledgeable and to what depths are we of understanding Indigenous peoples’ thoughts, values, ideas and inclusion, it’s all of that,” Wasacase-Lafferty said. “So it’s not one thing and I think that is where we get ourselves into a little bit of trouble, is by trying to put ‘indigenizing the academy’ into a little box somewhere and that it means one thing when it doesn’t.”

Graeme Joseph, team leader for First Nations, Métis and Inuit student success at the Aboriginal Students’ Centre, looks to population trends to reinforce the necessity of the concept.

“Everyone has different definitions as to what indigenizing the academy means or why it is important, but I think it is very important for an institution to be reflective of the community that it serves.”

As students and faculty at the U of S become more familiar with the concept of indigenization, they can expect to see its influence at the core of several new and recurring events, programs and structures as the 2015-16 academic year unfolds.

Indigenous Voices

On Aug. 31, the Indigenous Voices program kicked off for the U of S. The program is a collection of faculty, primarily Indigenous staff and some guest lecturers as well, who focus on preparing academic staff and supporting them in their ability to become more culturally aware.

The kickoff event took place at Shekinah Retreat Centre where elders, knowledge keepers and Indigenous Voices co-ordinators guided attendees through a day of stories, teachings, time on the land and preparing and cooking traditional meals as part of the learning journey.

According to the program’s website, the Indigenous Voices initiative is a venue for learning and addresses topics such as basic skills and knowledge, protocols for community engagement and effective pedagogical strategies, with the goal of co-creating a more equitable and sustainable society. In short, the program aims to bring Indigenous people and perspectives into the teaching, programming and disciplinary communities at the U of S.

“Indigenous Voices will prepare the university for the kinds of cultural change that we want to take on and the kinds of respectful relationships and knowledge bases that we want to grow,” Wasacase-Lafferty said.

Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Student Centre

The Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Student Centre is one way that the U of S is making a structural change in support of indigenization. According to sources involved with the project, it has been a slow construction site, but the $17 million build is projected to open its doors sometime in the late fall of 2015.

According to Joseph, the U of S Aboriginal Students’ Centre, which is currently located within Marquis Hall, is a small centre by comparison and has been somewhat limited by its capacity to host events of a certain size.

“What Gordon Oakes is going to be able to do is provide us with a much greater capacity to host all different kinds of events and encourage more Aboriginal students to become a part of our community. It’s not just going to be a place, it will literally be more like a platform from which we can then start to look at all different types of opportunities to support Aboriginal students,” Joseph said.

Presently, there are 40 different types of events happening through the existing ASC which will then translate into the Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Centre once it opens.

“We are really trying to position the Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Centre as an all-nations kind of gathering and that means Aboriginal and non, and I think that is what I am most excited about, is that the Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Student Centre will be a place of active learning for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people,” Wasacase-Lafferty said.

The ASC works to affect the entire student experience, not just for Indigenous students but for all of the campus community.

“We are producing students that will go on and lead us at some point, and if they have those relationships and that knowledge-base and appreciation of Aboriginal culture, then that is a game-changer for the university; that is a game-changer for Saskatchewan and all of Canada as far as I’m concerned,” Wasacase-Lafferty said. “It’s time to do something different or else we’ll always have the disjointed relationships that we have now. It’s time to try it a different way.”

The hope is that the centre will not only aid in the recruitment of Aboriginal students, but also in retention efforts.

“It is one thing to recruit Aboriginal students, it’s twice as important to retain them to the point where they graduate and then go back into the community and take up leadership roles,” Joseph said.

National Truth and Reconciliation Forum

On June 2, 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released 94 calls to action that redress the legacy of Canadian residential schools, and the U of S plans to answer the call this year by hosting a national forum.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is working to learn the truth about what happened in the residential schools and then to inform Canadians of their findings.

The U of S plans to host the forum for two days in late November, which will engage universities and Aboriginal leaders from across the country.

“We are looking to hold a national forum of thinkers and leaders particularly based on the TRC’s recommendations and we looked at those recommendations and tried to articulate which ones would the U of S be in the best position to work on and implement,” Wasacase-Lafferty said.

The forum will aim to focus on approximately 10 of the recommendations, a manageable goal according to Wasacase-Lafferty, including those surrounding language, cultural retention and increasing educational success.

“We will be inviting leaders and thinkers on these topics to seek advice and to look at what we as a university are already doing and what we could be doing more with regard to the TRC recommendations.

In addition to the new and continued initiatives to indigenize the university, the ASC undertook about 271 different activities last year alone to support Aboriginal students. Activities include everything from presentations on healthy living to career presentations and cultural ceremonies.

According to Joseph, indigenization is not just about creating an opportunity for Aboriginal students to come to and to learn from the university, but something the entire campus community will benefit from.

“This is an opportunity for the university to think about itself in a different way, and of course we really need all students to engage in that process and think about what indigenization means,” Joseph said.

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Images: Jeremy Britz/Graphics Editor