The university is a violent place for Indigenous Peoples and the violence cannot be met with falsehoods of reconciliation, Indigenization and decolonization.

Throughout the course of my academic career I have always said I want to make space for and advance Indigenous knowledges, and as a result, so much of my work has been in administration or service activities where potential change can occur by way of policy and procedure changes. With the advent of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report in 2015, most academic institutions have pledged to Indigenize, reconcile and decolonize. A review of strategic plans of universities and colleges across the country demonstrate statements of reconciliation in some cases, with financial commitments, but little focus on supporting Indigenous students specifically.

#ReconciliationFail abounds social media with respect to anti-Indigenous racism, tokenism and erasure of Indigenous peoples in the academy. Indigenous resurgence offers a different approach to the often harmful and violent reconciliation, Indigenization and decolonization (RID) efforts in the colonial academy. My adamant dismissal of RID has arisen from my experiences in attempting to make substantial change so that Indigenous peoples might successfully journey through the colonial academy without experiencing violence and harm.

I left Ryerson University in 2017 to take on a senior leadership role, Vice Provost Indigenous Resurgence at the University of Manitoba. My erasure as an Anishinaabe Metis Qwe was the impetus for me to leave Ryerson University. UofM was one of the first universities (Laurentian I believe holds the record for the first senior academic Indigenous specific role north of the colonial boarder) to hire or appoint someone at a senior level to help with efforts of Indigenization. However, it was not long before it was clear that being in such a role compromised my integrity. There is an expectation that when you are in senior leadership you stand with the university; however, for Indigenous roles, at least for me, my loyalty lies with community. When the expectations of the role do not align with community, these roles can place one in a very challenging position, having to choose to keep one’s job or stand with community. We saw a wave of resignations, firing, constructive dismissals and exodus of Indigenous leaders in the academy which continues today. See the stories of

Sandra Muse and Diane Obed, Saint Mary’s University

Angelique EagleWoman, Lakehead University

Marilyn Buffalo, University of Alberta

Lynn Lavallee, University of Manitoba

Barry Lavallee, University of Manitoba

At least 9 Indigenous scholars leave the University of Saskatchewan

Michael Degagne, Yukon University

Linda Tuhiwai Smith, University of Waikato

While all of the above scholars may not have reported leaving the university because of anti-Indigenous sentiment, if the academia was more welcoming for Indigenous Peoples we might not see such movement.

I wrote a blog upon my resignation at UofM, providing specific examples of systemic racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and erasure of Indigenous people and Indigenous thought while providing key recommendations. I was sincerely happy to see UofM consider some of these recommendations in moving forward in their Indigenous Senior Leadership Report.

Academia needs more than an Indigenous senior administrator or advisor to the President to make change that will ultimately have a positive impact for Indigenous students. Indigenous academic leads are needed at the faculty level, more Indigenous scholars are needed to attract Indigenous students, Indigenous student supports are needed throughout the university in all faculties,

Land acknowledgements, while great for shedding light on the fact that these are stolen Indigenous lands, do little to ensure increased admission and success of Indigenous students. Strategic plans that tout reconciliation need to include metrics related to increasing the number of Indigenous students in all programs at universities and colleges. Strategic enrolment management (SEM) initiatives need to part of each and every faculty and SEM needs to report on statistics related to attrition in a way that provides solutions.

These are the metrics that must be part of Indigenous resurgence in the academy.

October 2020