Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge Systems in the Canadian Academy: Experiences, Opportunities, Possibilities, and Risks

Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge Systems in the Canadian Academy: Experiences, Opportunities, Possibilities, and Risks

Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems and languages are constitutionally protected aboriginal rights and are the supreme law of Canada under s. 35 and s. 51(1) of the Constitution Act 1982. Aboriginal rights are further clarified and listed as inherent human rights in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (2007). Since 2021 Canada and British Columbia laws have implemented the requirement that existing laws become consistent with inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples. These laws and obligations are generating Canadian post-secondary Academy reforms.

This forum seeks to mobilize the regeneration of the Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems and languages in the academy by addressing questions and issues related to the promising practices, opportunities, approaches, interests and risks in engaging the Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge system in the Academy. This Forum relays the experiences of Indigenous senior scholars through experiential stories, reflections, and dialogues on what the Academy can do to decolonize their institutions, beginning with the engagement of Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge systems and languages with Eurocentric Knowledge systems. Breakout rooms will invite further dialogues and conversations on these issues.

PANEL SPEAKERS:

• Stephen Augustine, Mi’kmaw Knowledge Holder, Director of the Marshall Institute, and former VP Indigenous Engagement, Cape Breton University
• Marie Battiste, Mi’kmaw Scholar, Professor Emerita and Special Advisor on Decolonizing the Academy, Office of the VP Academic and Provost, and Unama’ki College, Cape Breton University
• Leroy Littlebear, Blackfoot scholar, Special Advisor to the President, University of Lethbridge
• Manon Tremblay, nêhiyaw-iskwêw (Plains Cree) from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Senior Director, Indigenous Directions, Office of the Provost and VP Academic, Concordia University
• Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams, Lil’wat Knowledge Holder, Professor Emerita University of Victoria
• Pierrot Ross-Tremblay (Innu Essipit First Nation) is Professor at the Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies (IIRS) at the University of Ottawa. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Intellectual Traditions and Self-Determination.

This is a FREE event. Please register by Thursday, April 21, 2022 by clicking here.