An award-winning Cree-Métis professor who grew up in northern Saskatchewan will not be transferred to the university in his home province because administrators required certain paperwork to prove he is a native.
“I wanted to come to the University of Saskatchewan. It’s all pretty disappointing,” Réal Carrière said.
Critics say Carrière’s ordeal is an example of a misguided overreaction by U of S administrators to a previous case of an indigenous identity controversy involving former U of S professor Carrie Bourassa.
Teachers of indigenous studies say they are angry about Carrière’s situation, but also fear that current staff will soon face these new “colonial” requirements.
“There’s a strong stench in all of this. This is a step backwards. I think it’s a mistake,” said Jim Waldram, acting head of the Department of Indigenous Studies.
Professor Winona Wheeler agreed.
“It’s very, very sad that we couldn’t hire one of our children. This is his home territory. He would contribute a lot to the university. [with] their academic background, traditional knowledge and connections to the community, “Wheeler said.
No one from the university administration was available for an interview, but last month, the U of S announced it would have an indigenous verification policy in the fall.
In a written statement to CBC News on Thursday morning, U of S Acting Director of Communications Heather Persson said the events described by Carrière, Wheeler and Waldram are an “inaccurate representation of our hiring process.” Persson said privacy rules prohibit officials from giving more details.
Réal Carrière and his sister, Michela, grew up in the family trap line in the Cumberland Delta in northern Saskatchewan. (askiholisticadventures.com)
Carrière’s family has lived for generations in the Cumberland House Cree Nation and the surrounding Métis village more than 400 miles northeast of Saskatoon.
Her father, Solomon, is a world champion in canoeing and marathon hunting, while her mother, Renee, is a land educator and her sister Michela is a horticulturist who organizes eco-tours in the Cumberland Delta.
“This is as indigenous as you can get,” Wheeler said.
Waldram, one of the original professors in the Department of Indigenous Studies nearly 40 years ago, said Carrière was “in an ideal position and would have been a great asset.”
Carree, who speaks Cree, has taught at the University of Manitoba for several years after winning several awards for her doctoral dissertation entitled Rediscovering the Path: Decolonizing Indigenous Governance.
Late last year, the U of S Department of Indigenous Studies published a teaching position. Carrière said he was happy with the U of M, but took the opportunity to return “home” to the U of S.
Earlier this year, he was interviewed by a committee of Waldram, Wheeler and five other members of the Indigenous faculty. It included a lengthy discussion about their indigenous identity.
Carrière said he was happy to talk about his identity with the hiring committee, which then contacted his family and community members.
Carrière was the unanimous choice of the commission, and a job offer was prepared.
“Our identity has been controlled for generations”
But then an additional step was added by senior university administrators, they said. Without consulting the recruitment committee, the interim vice-chancellor called Carrière for an interview.
Carrière said she was told to send written documentation proving she was indigenous. Carrière has no written documentation of his condition because he believes it is a “colonial” method.
“Our identity has been controlled for generations. Are we now reducing it to a state card or a piece of paper? Is this a reconciliation?” said Carrière.
“What about the thousands of stateless people who work in various institutions? Will they be told that they are no longer valued?”
In an additional effort to convince administrators, the hiring committee sent a letter from an elder as well as several videos. They say it’s not enough. Carrière withdrew his name.
“This institution is supposed to be a leader in the community. It would have been great to come back,” Carrière said.
Waldram said he feels bad for Carrière, but is also angry that administrators did not respect the wishes of his committee of experts.
“This was a group of experts mostly from indigenous scholars, but we were separated,” Waldram said.
Carrière’s ordeal is the direct result of a controversy before the U of S, Waldram and Wheeler said.
Carrie Bourassa recently resigned from the University of Saskatchewan following allegations that she made false claims about her Indigenous ancestry. (YouTube)
In a CBC News report late last year, Wheeler and others said Professor Carrie Bourassa had made numerous false claims about her Indigenous identity. Bourassa resigned without pay from one of his positions and resigned earlier this month from the faculty of the University of Valencia.
It sparked a national conversation about how to define “indigenous,” especially for places reserved for indigenous people. But little attention was paid to the negative effects of implementing a document-based impersonal system, critics say.
“On the verge of being paranoid”
Wheeler, Waldram and others say the U of S administrators, in a desperate effort to avoid another public scandal, have caused the pendulum to climb too far in the other direction.
“He’s bordering on paranoid,” Wheeler said.
“Instead of trying to eliminate fraud, our identity has become problematic and it is up to us to prove who we are.”
Following the Bourassa controversy, the U. de S and other universities set up working groups on the subject of indigenous identity. A national conference was held in Regina this spring.
Wheeler and Waldram said they expect the U of S working group to propose more reasonable policies. They also hope that the detailed work of indigenous scholars such as Carrière’s contracting committee will be respected in the future.
In a written statement on Thursday, Persson said the U of S “respects the principles of sovereignty and self-determination in relation to indigenous membership and citizenship. The Working Group on Indigenous Membership and Citizenship is working with indigenous communities and leaders. to identify appropriate verification information. should be required when hiring indigenous scholars “.
Last month, Angela Jaime, acting vice-chancellor for indigenous participation in the U. – we do not have fraudulent claims in the future.
“We are working to make this work even better when it comes to creating this funding resource space [and], senior management positions. And we want to be very clear that it is important that indigenous voices occupy these spaces. “