The 32-page report by the First Peoples Group, an indigenous consultancy, was released on Friday and comes after an anonymous report surfaced online last June that six Queen’s instructors, professors and staff had falsely claimed identity. of the natives. The report makes seven recommendations, including that the university establish a department of indigenous studies. It also suggests that only those who are qualified, indigenous and have lived experience should be considered for any teaching position that should be held by indigenous people. It also dismisses a controversial community that has had strong ties to the university for years – the Ardoch First Nation – describing the “strange relationship” as the exhibition’s “raison d’être”. Three of the people named in the anonymous petition are members of the Ardoch First Nation, a non-status community in eastern Ontario. Queen’s initially defended these individuals, but has since changed its position nearly one hundred indigenous academics and leaders across North America signed a letter asking the school to take complaints seriously. “Ardoch is not a First Nation despite positioning itself as such,” Friday’s report said. Unless indigenous communities are empowered by their nation to speak on its behalf and enact its law and ceremonies, they are merely an indigenous civil organization and “cannot grant or imply citizenship equals Indigenous identity” , he adds. That stance aligns with the statements of Wendy Jocko, chief of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation, who told CBC that Ardoch is “not First Nation” and includes “people who don’t meet any of the criteria to be Algonquin Nation”. “ While self-declaration is an important part of Indigenous identity, it proved “insufficient to create a safe, respectful and inclusive community” at Queen’s, said university chancellor Murray Sinclair. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
The University undertakes to set up a supervisory board
Queen’s principal Patrick Deane said in a statement on Friday that the university accepts the report’s recommendations in principle and as a starting point. “Our immediate response will be to establish an Indigenous Oversight Council to advise the university on issues of Indigenous representation and citizenship,” he wrote. Dean said council members would come from the lands on which Queen’s was built and help create a “more inclusive approach” to Indigenous identity. First Nations whose territory overlaps with Queen’s include the Bay of Quinte Mohawk, the Alderville First Nation, the Pikwakanagan Algonquins and the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, according to the report. In a statement, Her Majesty’s Chancellor Murray Sinclair said the council would be a step towards an Indigenous-led identity confirmation process that is not based on self-determination – which has “proven insufficient to create a safe, respectful and inclusive community’. in university. The retired senator and former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission added that the changes should not stop at recruitment, calling on the university to develop programming that teaches Indigenous knowledge, traditions and cultures. After the report was released, Sinclair told CBC Radio’s Ontario Today that the university was “rightly” criticized for not having an adequate policy on self-identification — but added that for most of Canada’s history, claiming to be Indigenous was considered “negative thing”. .” “It would result in you being treated unequally [and] in a negative way. And so it’s only recently that people are actively and publicly declaring their indigenous identity,” he said. “The only thing we have to be careful about is that people can take advantage of it — and take advantage of the willingness of institutions and organizations to rely on [those declarations] only.” The university said it would establish an oversight board to advise on Indigenous representation and citizenship. (Michelle Allan/CBC)
The report says many were hurt, offended
The First Peoples Group says it has heard from Indigenous people who are “deeply disappointed, hurt and offended”, adding that “many are ashamed to be associated with Queen’s”. His first recommendation – made after discussions with the First Nations on whose territory the university is located – is for Queen’s to apologize and hold healing ceremonies. The report calls for Queen’s to establish a department of Indigenous Studies and suggests hiring four lecturers, with “one from the east, one from the south, one from the west and one from the north”. He also discusses the qualifications for teaching Indigenous studies, saying the authors clearly heard that those without citizenship and lived experience should not. The process of implementing the recommendations will begin with the formation of the oversight board, and that “will take some time,” said Janice Hill, the university’s vice president for Indigenous initiatives and reconciliation. “Some of them are very complex and some of them will be easier to implement than others. We will be able to identify with [the council] which ones we can most effectively act on,” Hill told Ontario Morning. Queen’s, as a colonial institution, does not have the power or right to define who is Indigenous.- Janice Hill, vice-president of Indigenous initiatives and reconciliation The report’s authors said they heard that at a minimum, the validation policy for Queen’s should include citizenship or membership cards, as well as a professional reference and references from a family member and an elected First Nations, Inuit or Métis leader. Those who could not meet the criteria could submit a written history and photographs citing relatives going no further back than their grandmother or grandfather. The stories would take the form of an affidavit that would be investigated, the report suggests, and if anything was false, the employment contract would be void. “Queen’s, as a colonial institution, has no power or right to determine who is Indigenous,” Hill said. “It has to be an indigenous-led process.” Canada’s residential school system broke the connections many indigenous people had with their culture, which partly explains why it is difficult for some people to concretely define their citizenship in a particular community, Sinclair added. The report notes that views on what should happen to staff who do not meet the new Queen’s requirements range from finding alternative jobs at the university to sacking them. “We have heard strongly that people whose identity claims are unproven or may be unproven are removed from positions of influence in any Indigenous course or program or related field of study,” the report says. “While it may not be clear what needs to be done, it is clear that something needs to be done.”
