Schools mounting ambitious plans with Indigenous communities
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
Every Catholic college and university in Canada has woken up to the call for truth and reconciliation between Indigenous Canadians and the rest of us.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really see that a university or a place of learning has a valid claim to the pursuit of truth and reason if it isn鈥檛 looking at all these factors that really have textured our society, both good and bad鈥�. It would be self-evident to say that reconciliation is one of the calls of our times,鈥� said Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities of Canada chair Gerry Turcotte. 鈥淭here are very deep and hurtful legacies via the Catholic Church, but also other political and even religious organizations. How do you move forward if you don鈥檛 acknowledge those tensions, those wounds?鈥�
Turcotte has recently compiled a 22-page report on Catholic colleges and their efforts to learn about and teach Canada鱿鱼视频app aboriginal heritage in partnership with aboriginal people. The college presidents will launch Turcotte鱿鱼视频app report, 鈥淒ialogue Together With Action: Canada鱿鱼视频app Catholic Colleges & Universities & the Road to Reconciliation鈥� Oct. 24 in Ottawa.
Turcotte hopes the report will inspire more partnerships with Indigenous communities and linkages between Catholic institutions searching for ways to address Canada鱿鱼视频app aboriginal reality.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app an incentivising, creative document about what more is possible,鈥� Turcotte said.
In a long list of projects big and small, the one Saint Paul University in Ottawa is shepherding is among the most ambitious. With the help of an $800,000 gift from the Sisters of St. Ann, Saint Paul is partnering with St. Mark鱿鱼视频app College in Vancouver, First Nations University of Canada in Regina and Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont., to equip Native communities to deal with trauma and tragedy.
Saint Paul鱿鱼视频app is putting its 42-year-old program in counselling, psychotherapy and spirituality to work in partnership with aboriginal communities, helping to train people in their communities and building a network of support that can deal with suicides or addiction.
鈥淔or us it鱿鱼视频app about expanding something that鱿鱼视频app already there, making it more relevant to Indigenous communities,鈥� said Saint Paul rector Chantal Beauvais. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app exciting in a way that we are doing our best to create these spaces where people can feel whole and human.鈥�
Saint Paul鱿鱼视频app believes it can find ways to honour and use the traditional cultural knowledge of elders, who are often called on when communities are in crisis. Links between the university and Indigenous community colleges can help equip teachers, social workers, nurses and others in remote communities, said Beauvais.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app a new road for all of us at universities,鈥� she said.
It鱿鱼视频app a process of decolonizing the university, according to the rector.
鈥淭o be up front and to say, 鈥榊es, we have been part of the problem in the past,鈥� 鈥� is the first step, Beauvais told The Catholic Register. 鈥淢aybe there are ways of doing things at the moment that continue to be part of the problem. But now we are genuinely looking for ways to be inclusive in a real way.鈥�
It isn鈥檛 just the 94 鈥淐alls to Action鈥� from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada that has universities retooling their curricula and rethinking their relationships with Native people, said University of Sudbury Indigenous studies chair Michael Hankard. Ontario鱿鱼视频app high school curriculum has been paying attention to Indigenous history and social issues since 1999. High school graduates arrive on campus looking for more.
鈥淪tudents are pretty much knocking down our doors,鈥� said Hankard, who lives on the Serpent River First Nation.
Indigenous students are looking for an open and frank acknowledgement of spiritual realities.
鈥淭here is a particular urgency and poignancy to Catholic organizations recognizing and working maybe a little bit harder (on reconciliation) 鈥� saying this is not set in stone; change can happen,鈥� said Turcotte, who is president of St. Mary鱿鱼视频app University in Calgary.
Turcotte and the St. Mary鱿鱼视频app administration has worked hard to build relationships with Alberta Aboriginal communities, earning the right to carry a teepee which can be erected several times per year on campus and host teaching by Native elders.
From M茅tis sash graduation ceremonies to nights spent on campus in the teepee, which must never be left unoccupied, aboriginal students at St. Mary鱿鱼视频app are the first to feel the effects of their university鱿鱼视频app efforts at reconciliation.
鈥淲e had many Catholic First Nations students for whom this was a healing of great consequence 鈥� to see this kind of dialogue on campus,鈥� Turcotte said. 鈥淚t does matter, not just morally but I think psychologically. It鱿鱼视频app just a good thing to be doing.鈥�
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