Indigenization

The Indigenization of Post Secondary Education

Indigenization of post-secondary education is the practice of acknowledging and redressing the ways in which Indigenous Peoples, their scholarship, history, culture, and ways of knowing have been excluded from or made invisible within post-secondary institutions and post-secondary education.

CUPE has produced a Fact Sheet on how Indigenization needs to take place across the post-secondary sector. Indigenization recognizes that post-secondary institutions, workers, and students all have a significant role to play in reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

CUPE 4207 understands our role as academic contract workers in Calls to Action and Reconciliation. We are committed to learning, understanding and incorporating the Indigenization of Brock University.

A Message from your Equity Committee:

My name is Dr. Tracy Kennedy; I am the Outreach Officer for CUPE 4207 and member of our Equity Committee. I have taken the lead on tackling issues and challenges that Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit Peoples face, and created several incentives and events during September that raise awareness and speak to our roles and responsibilities for Calls to Action as academic contract workers.

At the September GMM, I gave a short presentation to CUPE 4207 Members called: “CUPE 4207 & the Indigenization of Post-Secondary Education”. I offered my insights and experiences that tackle questions, such as: What role do academic labour unions play in reconciliation with Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit Peoples? How can CUPE 4207 members incorporate Calls to Action into their work practices –  lectures, assignments, seminars, lab demonstrations, office spaces and student interactions?

Here are the slides for my talk: CUPE 4207 & the Indigenization of Post-Secondary Education

We’ve also recorded the talk –

 

On Tues, Sept 21st, we hosted Kelly Fran Davis. This event was open to the Brock community: Indigenous Education & Enlightenment in Academia
Please join Kelly Fran Davis for a virtual presentation and workshop on Tuesday, September 21st from 5-7pm. Kelly will talk about foundational principles for Indigenization, understanding Indigenous Pedagogy from a Haudenosaunee woman’s perspective, and why we need to decolonize colonial institutions for effective Reconciliation. After the presentation, the group will engage in discussion and reflection about the content, ways we can move forward, and how we can implement this pedagogical framework into our academic work at Brock University.

 

Additional Resources:

The Circle As Pedagogy Creating Authentic Elder/Youth Engagement

Creating Our Way Forward: Recommendations for Improving Niagara Region Public Health and Emergency Services’ Indigenous Engagement 2019 written by Kelly Fran Davis in collaboration with local Indigenous organizations

GoodMinds.com – First Nations, Inuit, Metis Books

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action

Origins of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy

Students learn Indigenous language using virtual reality, June 18, 2021

Six Nations school launches app that teaches people to speak Mohawk

Resources For CUPE 4207 Members

Indigenization of Post-Secondary Education CUPE National

Indigenizing Academia – Stryker Calvez

Indigenization as inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization: navigating the different visions for indigenizing the Canadian Academy – Adam Gaudry and Danielle Lorenz

100 ways to Indigenize and decolonize academic programs and courses – Dr. Shauneen Pete

Resources for Indignizing Higher Education (a collection of links to books, chapters, journal articles and more on initiatives, organization, and research methodology) – Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Education and Social Work

Walking the talk: A practical guide to reconciliation for CUPE locals | Canadian Union of Public Employees

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – Sept 30th, 2021.

Bargaining Language for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation