Aspirational Indigenization: An Analysis of Canadian University Institutional Strategic Plans and Indigenous Strategic Plans
Canadian Association of Sociology of Education (CASE) and the Canadian Sociological Association's Sociology of Education Research Cluster (CSA).
April 29, 2025 @ 12:00 PM Eastern Time
Register for this webinar
Download Poster
Moderator: Dr. Alana Butler, Queen's University
Aspirational Indigenization: An Analysis of Canadian University Institutional Strategic Plans and Indigenous Strategic Plans
Danielle Lorenz, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
Dr. Adam Gaudry, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta
Dr. Rob Hancock, Department of Anthropology / Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement, University of Victoria
The release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015) catalyzed responses from postsecondary institutions in Canada, including commitments to truth and reconciliation in strategic documents (Universities Canada, 2020, p. 3). Despite this broad uptake of Indigenization as a strategic goal, little consensus has emerged about how Indigenization is defined and practiced in Canadian universities, leading to significantly disparate approaches and considerable challenges in successfully implementing and assessing policies and practices that support it. To address the centrality of Indigenization as a strategic goal, we applied Gaudry and Lorenz’s (2018) three-stage model of Indigenization which categorizes Indigenization policies and practices in terms of inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization. Initial conclusions from the analysis of the Indigenous strategic plans (N = 24) and university strategic plans (N = 45) of the anglophone institutions in Maclean’s University Rankings confirm that institutional and Indigenous strategic plans locate Indigenization practices in Canadian universities between inclusion and reconciliation Indigenization. More specifically, Indigenization practices within the inclusion category focus on the recruitment (but not always retention) of Indigenous students, faculty, and staff as well as visual representations of Indigeneity (e.g., Indigenous art on campus). Indigenization practices within the reconciliation category aim to update tenure review processes for Indigenous faculty, contribute to community-driven research projects, and support language revitalization processes. However, we maintain that most institutional and Indigenous plans lack actionable metrics, and therefore much of the proposed Indigenization in Canadian universities remains aspirational.
References
Gaudry, A., & Lorenz, D. (2018). Indigenization as inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization: Navigating the different visions for indigenizing the Canadian Academy. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 14(3), 218–227. https://doi-org.10.1177/1177180118785382
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action.
https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_ English2.pdf
Universities Canada (2020). Empowering Indigenous students and advancing Reconciliation.
https://www.univcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Indigenous-education-surve y-results_UC-2020accessible-Berman.pdf