Indigenization

As part of our efforts to promote the  indigenization and decolonization of higher education and the co-production of knowlege, UArctic maintains a set of useful references, resources and guides. The maintenance of this collection is overseen by our Vice-President Indigenous and the Indigenous Advisory Board. Please contact secretariat@uarctic.org to suggest any additional relevant resources.

Related documents

Title Author Description
Inspiring Relationships Indigenization Plan Camosun College This indigenization plan was developed in collaboration with students, local Aboriginal communities, and organizations. This plan contributes to the College’s mission to “… provide outstanding and relevant learning experiences, valued credentials, and lifelong student success.” The plan provides a definition of indigenization, a history of indigenization, the consultation process, and the four Corner Posts including: curriculum development and delivery; services for students; policy and strategic planning; and employee education. The plan also includes goals, targets, and outcome measures.
Indigenous Education Protocol for Colleges and Institutes Colleges & Institutes Canada This Indigenous Education Protocol was developed by Colleges and Institutes Canada in consultation with its Indigenous community partners and members. The protocol was developed to address the learning needs of Indigenous peoples’ and to support self-determination and socio-economic development of Indigenous communities. The protocol is founded on seven principles which focus on the following: Indigenous education prioritization; recognition and respect; implementation of intellectual and cultural traditions; student and employee support; increasing Indigenous employees and appointments; Indigenous-centered holistic services; and relationship building. Downloads: https://www.collegesinstitutes.ca/policyfocus/indigenous-learners/protocol/download-the-indigenous-education-protocol/
Indigenous Directions – Stories & events -- All stories Concordia University This is a regularly updated digital hub of information on Indigenous activities, stories, and events.
Current Indigenous Top Ten Academica Group Academia’s Indigenous Top Ten is a free biweekly publication designed to share news, interesting research, best practices, and policy developments regarding First Nations, Métis, and Inuit education in Canada.
University of Winnipeg makes indigenous course a requirement CBC News This article discusses the University of Winnipeg’s requirement for all undergraduate students to take at least one Indigenous studies course to graduate.
“We Are All Relations”: An Indigenous Course Requirement (ICR) as Part of a Good Way to Reconciliation University of Winnipeg, Helen Lepp Friesen The University of Winnipeg requires undergraduate students to take creditors course from approved list on indigenous content teaching. Source URL: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/community-engagement/Research/indigenous-course-requirement.html Full Report URL: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/community-engagement/docs/8-1-ICR-We-are-all-relations-Lepp-Friesen.pdf
Concerted national action overdue for all the children who never came home from residential schools National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation – University of Manitoba; Indian Resdential School History and Dialogue Centre, The University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) and the University of Manitoba’s National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) have issued a statement calling on the Government of Canada to create a national framework for the investigation and protection of burial sites. IRSHDC and NCTR are calling for the protection of potential burial sites until they can be properly investigated and documented, as well as the criminalization of the destruction of burial sites. They also note that the investigation and protection of these sites needs to respect the rights of Indigenous governments and peoples. “There must be a new determination and diligent action by Canada on the key priorities like the missing children and burial sites,” said IRSHDC Director Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (Aki-Kwe). “The Survivors, and all Indigenous peoples deserve to know their voices were listened to when they told Canada there were children who never made it home, and someone did the right thing—they found them.
Brandon University launches Teaching House to share Indigenous Knowledge Brandon University This article introduces the Brandon University Teaching House program which intends to gather and share Indigenous knowledge and will feature different topics and teachings approximately once a month. The Teaching House website is https://www.brandonu.ca/indigenous/resources/teaching-house-bu/ and includes a schedule of upcoming gatherings.
How these Kanien'kehá:ka students are trying to Indigenize a Quebec college CBC News, Ka’nhehsí:io Deer This article highlights the Indigenous ambassadors program at Champlain College Saint-Lambert which provides peer support, mentorship, leadership, and advocacy opportunities for Indigenous students.
When good intentions are not enough: how sustainable development goals at universities can perpetuate the issues they’re aimed to address Sharon Stein, Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia This is an opinion piece featured on the University Affairs website which discusses university support for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the potential to reproduce harmful colonial and capitalist relations.
Indigenization at Trent: Truth and Reconciliation Committee Report Marks Fifth Anniversary Trent University “Trent’s Professor David Newhouse takes lead on a study on Indigenization of the academy”
Native Land Website Native Land This website was developed by Native Land Digital which is a Canadian non-profit organization. Their mission is: “… to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations, through educational resources such as our map and Territory Acknowledgement Guide.”
This app will show you what Indigenous land you're on Leah Asmelash, CNN This CNN article discusses land acknowledgements to honour and pay respect to the Indigenous people who cared for the land before the arrival of White Europeans. Links to mapping websites are included.
TRU joins unique Indigenous agriculture partnership Thompson Rivers University This article highlights the agricultural partnership between the Skeetchestn Indian Band, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (TteS), and Thompson Rivers University (TRU). Indigenous students will learn about running a business, using traditional and Western land practices, and food sovereignty through the Applied Sustainable Ranching Certificate.
Inside the ‘Indigenization’ of Canada’s universities: Progress — but also accusations of tokenism, broken promises and ‘ethnic fraud’ Douglas Quan, Vancouver Bureau, Toronto Star
Indigenous art meets technology The University of Winnipeg This article introduces the Aabijijiwan New Media Lab and the Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre. “Aabijijiwan New Media Lab houses four digital media labs each with a specific production focus – sound, projection, virtual reality (VR), animation and video – and a collaborative interactive studio space for engagement between these mediums, as well as a collaborative space for workshops, intergenerational gatherings, dialogues, and work with older media, such as sewing, caribou hide tufting, beading, and other materials. Grounded in Indigenous ways of being in relation – with other people, with the land, and with non-human entities.” “Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre is a collaborative space designed, driven, and governed according to Indigenous methodologies. The center is for transdisciplinary and creative research, allowing for dynamic and engaging space for workshops, intergenerational gatherings, dialogues, and work. This area contains individual workspaces for tablets or laptops, a family space for babies, mothers, parents and children, it can host community events and gatherings from all disciplines.”
Mi’kmaw student creates lab at Acadia to share traditional knowledge with future scientists Emma Smith, CBC News Acadia University student Leah Creaser, member of the Acadia First Nation, has created a lab to share Mi’kmaw traditional knowledge with first-year biology students. Creaser noticed her first-year lab on plant identification did not include information on Mi’kmaq use of the plants, and Professor Juan Carlos López invited her to create a lab based on Mi’kmaw traditional knowledge as part of a research assignment. As she developed the lab, Creaser joined Acadia First Nation Councillor Jeff Purdy on teaching walks to learn more about native plants and their significance. The lab has since become a core part of Acadia’s required biology course. The lab gives information on the Mi’kma’ki, medicines made from the plants, their identification, and plant names in Mi’kmaw and English. “I ... did it for every Indigenous student who’s sitting in those seats because we need to see more of that,” said Creaser. “There needs to be the acknowledgement, the meaningful acknowledgement.”
Métis Women’s Experiences in Canadian Higher Education Bryanna Scott, Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay Newly published research article explores Métis women in Canadian higher education. Bryanna Scott of Lakehead University recently published an article on Métis women’s experiences in Canadian higher education in the research journal Genealogy. In the article, Scott explains that there is a gap in the literature around Métis students’ experiences in higher education and that Métis pedagogies are often “hidden or do not exist within higher and mainstream education systems.” She explores the concepts of identity, institutional practices, and reconciliation as described by Métis women from a specific region of Canada; and shares a conceptual framework called “Métissage-as-reconciliation" that is inclusive of elements such as Métis identity, student support services, and instructor competence embedded in reconciliation.
Canada and Alberta support infrastructure investments to upgrade Yellowhead Tribal Colleges’s STEM facilities Government of Canada Yellowhead Tribal College will be receiving funding from the Government of Canada to improve its STEM facilities. The funding will allow the college to take on a variety of upgrades, such as widening a classroom and lab, as well as installing exhaust fans, air ducts, fume hoods, and new flooring. The upgrades will benefit students and are expected to increase completion in the STEM fields. “Not only does this project build on the foundation of the spirit of Treaty No. 6; it is a collaborative enterprise for the benefit of current and future students,” said Chief Tony Alexis of the Yellowhead Tribal Development Foundation. “A safe place to learn, cognitively, spiritually and physically, is created by this project. Creating change by including the First Nations’ way of knowing, it also provides opportunities to engage with Elders in a science lab.”
In the North and Across Turtle Island Indigenous Land-Based Learning In the Era of Covid-19 Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning This report analyzes and responds to a COVID-19 webinar hosted by Dechinta during the summer of 2020 which examined the risks of moving Indigenous land-based education online. The webinar offered solutions, mitigations, or alternatives to immersive group learning in land-based education during the pandemic. This report is a toolkit and resource to assist educators and students to continue land-based programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report includes four sections, including: navigating land-based education and pandemics in the north; removing the land from Indigenous land-based education; queering Indigenous lang-based education; and returning to the land during a time of great sickness. The tools and resources includes: a summary of each webinar; lesson plans and reading lists for each webinar; recorded interviews with elders and knowledge holders; and additional resources on COVID-19 and land-based education.
Harmony with Nature Report of the Secretary-General United Nations General Assembly. (July 23, 2018). “The report draws on contributions to the eighth interactive dialogue on Harmony with Nature, held on 23 April 2018, that address Earth jurisprudence in the implementation of sustainable production and consumption patterns in harmony with nature and trends in the implementation of Earth jurisprudence in law, policy, education and public engagement.”
Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning Website Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning “Dechinta is the only fully land-based university accredited program in the world, and the only program explicitly mandated to serve Indigenous people”
NWT On the Land Collaborative Website NWT On the Land Collaborative This website provides centralized access to funding and other resources for on-the-land programs in the Northwest Territories. The Collaborative is comprised of community advisors, funding partners, and an administrative team. Partners include: McConnell Foundation, Rio Tinto Diavik Diamond Mine, Nature United, Dominion Diamond Mines, The Gordon Foundation, Royal Bank of Canada, Full Circle Fund, MayWay, Government of the Northwest Territories, NWT Recreation and Parks Association, and community advisors representing regional Indigenous governments from across the territory. Sour URL for the NWT On the Land Collaborative 2020 Report: http://www.nwtontheland.ca/uploads/8/6/5/1/86514372/report_2020_final_web.pdf
Learning from the land: Indigenous land based pedagogy and decolonization Matthew Wildcat, Mandee McDonald, Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, Glen Coulthard Abstract: “This paper introduces the special issue of Decolonization on land-based education. We begin with the premise that, if colonization is fundamentally about dispossessing Indigenous peoples from land, decolonization must involve forms of education that reconnect Indigenous peoples to land and the social relations, knowledges and languages that arise from the land. An important aspect of each article is then highlighted, as we explore the complexities and nuances of Indigenous land-based education in different contexts, places and methods. We close with some reflections on issues that we believe deserve further attention and research in regards to land-based education, including gender, spirituality, intersectional decolonization approaches, and sources of funding for land-based education initiatives.”
Interrupting the Northern Research Industry: Why Northern Research Should be in Northern Hands Morgan Moffitt, Courtney Chetwynd, Zoe Todd; Northern Public Affairs Magazine Researchers speak about accountability and working in the north.
Nahenáhodhe” – Our way of life Dehcho First Nations This webpage highlights the video and booklet project, entitled Nahenáhodhe – Our way of life to share Dehcho Dene language, culture and knowledge of the land. The videos focus on Dene Laws, Dene Laws and stories, camp set up, moose hide, plant wisdom, and spruce tree. Each video is available in the Dena language only or with subtitles and has an accompanying booklet.

Related documents

Title Author Description
What about the Land and the Water? Yukon First Nations Worldviews and the Research Ethics Process Tosh Southwick, Samantha Darling, Bronwyn Hancock, Yukon Research Centre Yukon College This paper examines the potential to embed respect for the land and water alongside people and animals in a formalized, holistic ethical review of research projects that better reflects Yukon First Nations worldviews. This paper includes: a background; the approach; results; indigenizing research ethics at Yukon College; and conclusion.
Ethics for Research with Indigenous Peoples Harriet Kuhnlein, Centre for Indigenous Peoples Nutrition and Environment (CINE) This is a presentation developed for the Macdonald Research Office Ethics Symposium 19-09-2007. The presentation discusses: Understanding the term “indigenous”; Why does research with Indigenous Peoples need special consideration; Participatory Methods; CIHR Guidelines for Health Research Involving Aborginal Peoples; and CIHR Guidelines for Aboriginal Health Research — 15 Articles.
Ethical Principles for the Conduct of Research in the North Amanda Graham, Jim McDonald, ACUNS Board Committee on Revising the Ethical Principles This documents lists 20 principles and applying them. It also includes a document history.
Negotiating Research Relationships with Inuit Communities — A Guide for Researchers Scot Nickels, Jamal Shirley, and Gita Laidler (eds.), Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Nunavut Research Institute “This guide is an attempt to address these questions, and provide practical advice to assist researchers who plan to work with, or in the vicinity of, Canadian Inuit communities in the regions of Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavik (northern Québec), Nunavut, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories (NWT).”
Health Research in Nunavut: Special Considerations for Remote Data Collection Nunavut Research Institute This document was prepared by the Joint Health Research Review Committee of the Nunavut Research Institute. It provides guidance for researchers planning projects that require a license under Nunavut’s Scientists Act and that involve collecting data from or about Nunavummiut.
Indigenous Research FAQs for student researchers Memorial University This FAQ is a living document and will be updated. It also contains a list of texts including techniques and ways of doing research from an Indigenous worldview.
First Nations Ethics Guide on Research and Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Assembly of First Nations This resource booklet is a compilation of views and perspectives about the appropriate use and better understanding of the role that ATK can play in policy development. This booklet was developed to provide insightful guidance for: federal and provincial governments; provincial and territorial organizations; and First Nation governments and their community members. This document also provides a framework for future discussions.
Indigenous Research Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council This Government of Canada webpage contains links to resources, funding opportunities, funded Indigenous research projects, and more.
The Importance of Duty to Consult and Accommodate Fort William First Nation This booklet discusses the following: aboriginal consultation and accommodation; accomplishments of the Fort William First Nation; the history of Kitchigami (Lake Superior) and a time chart; commercial and non-commercial land-based ventures; and the medicine wheel, four seasons, and the moons.
First Nations Information Governance Centre Website First Nations Information Governance Centre The FNIGC is an independent, apolitical, and technical non-profit organization committed to providing quality information that contributes to improving the health and well-being of First Nations people in Canada.
Knowledge translation and indigenous knowledge Janet Smylie, Carmel Mary Martin, Nili Kaplan-Myrth, Leah Steele, Caroline Tait, William Hogg
Protocols & Principles For Conducting Research in an Indigenous Context University of Victoria Faculty of Human and Social Development This protocol was developed to help ensure that any research involving Indigenous peoples includes appropriate respect to the cultures, languages, knowledge, and values of Indigenous people.
University of Alberta Centre for Teaching and Learning: Indigenizing and Decolonizing Teaching and Learning University of Alberta This webpage provides links to information on: Indigenization at the University of Alberta; key readings; allyship; and additional resources.
100 ways to Indigenize and decolonize academic programs and courses Dr. Shauneen Pete, University of Regina This documents lists 100 ways to begin discussion and action with faculty colleagues.
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: A Needed Change in Stance, Terminology, and Practice Django Paris Review/Essay — This paper discusses the term and stance of culturally sustaining pedagogy.
Circumpolar Inuit protocols for equitable and ethical engagement Inuit Circumpolar Council The Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement was developed through two primary processes: 1. An ICC-developed synthesis report of Inuit-produced materials and voices that address existing rules, laws, values, guidelines and protocols for the engagement of Inuit communities and Indigenous Knowledge, and 2. A series of workshops convening Inuit Delegates that captured Inuit knowledge, perspectives, needs, priorities and guidance on future engagement processes.