A review of how Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario assesses Indigenous identity when hiring staff calls on the school to apologize for the pain the problem has recently caused and recommends that all teachers who self-declare themselves as Indigenous submit to a new process to validate their identity. .
The 32-page report from First Peoples Group, an indigenous advisory firm, was released Friday and comes after an anonymous report surfaced last June alleging that six Queen’s instructors, teachers and associates had falsely claimed indigenous identity.
The report issues seven recommendations, including the university creating a department of indigenous studies. It also suggests that only those who are qualified, indigenous, and have lived experience for any teaching position that indigenous people should occupy be considered.
He also rejects a controversial community that has had strong affiliations with the university for years – the Ardoch First Nation – which describes the “strange relationship” as the “raison d’être” of the report.
Three of the people named in the anonymous report are members of the Ardoch First Nation, a stateless community in eastern Ontario.
Queen’s initially defended these people, but later changed their position nearly a hundred North American indigenous academics and leaders signed a letter asking the school to take the allegations seriously.
“Ardoch is not a First Nation despite positioning itself as such,” Friday’s report states.
Unless indigenous communities have received the authority of their nation to speak on their behalf and enact their laws and ceremonies, they are simply an urban indigenous organization and “cannot grant or imply that citizenship is equal to indigenous identity. “, add.
This position is in line with the statements of Wendy Jocko, head of the Algonquins of the Pikwakanagan First Nation, who previously told CBC that Ardoch “is not a first nation” and includes “people who do not meet any of the criteria to belong to the Algonquin nation “. “
While self-declaration is an important part of Indigenous identity, it has proven “insufficient to create a safe, respectful and inclusive community” at Queen’s, said University Rector Murray Sinclair. (Justin Tang / The Canadian Press)
The university is committed to creating a supervisory board
Queen director Patrick Deane said in a statement 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.
Deane said council members will come from the lands where Queen’s was built and help establish a “more comprehensive approach” to indigenous identity.
According to the report, the first nations whose territory overlaps with that of Queen include the Mohawks of Quinte Bay, the First Nation of Alderville, the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg.
In a statement, the Queen’s Chancellor, Murray Sinclair, said the council will be a step towards an indigenous-led process of identity confirmation that is not based on self-identification, which “has been shown to be insufficient to creating a safe, respectful and inclusive community “. to the University.
The retired senator and former chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission added that the changes should not stop at recruitment, and called for 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 being criticized “rightly” for lacking a proper policy on self-identification, but added that for most of the year. Canadian history, claiming to be Indigenous was seen as a “negative thing.” . “
“This would result in unequal treatment [and] in a negative way. And so people have recently been actively and publicly declaring their indigenous identity, ”he said.
“The only thing we need to keep in mind is that people can take advantage of it, and take advantage of the willingness of institutions and organizations to trust them. [those declarations] only “.
The university said it will set up a supervisory board to advise on indigenous representation and citizenship. (Michelle Allan / CBC)
The report says many were injured, insulted
First Peoples Group says it heard Indigenous people who are “deeply disappointed, hurt and insulted,” adding that “many are ashamed of being associated with Queen’s.”
Her first recommendation, which was reached after talks with the First Nations in whose territory the university is located, is for Queen’s to apologize and hold healing ceremonies.
The report calls for Queen’s to set up a department of Indigenous studies and suggests hiring four instructors, with “one from the east, one from the south, one from the west and one from the north.”
He also talks about qualifications for teaching indigenous studies, saying the authors clearly heard that those without citizenship and lived experiences should not do so.
The process of implementing the recommendations will begin with the formation of the supervisory board and this will “take some time,” said Janice Hill, the university’s deputy director of indigenous initiatives and reconciliation.
“Some of them are very complex and some will be easier to implement than others. We will be able to identify with [the council] on which we can act more easily, ”Hill told Ontario Morning.
Queen’s, as a colonial institution, has no authority or right to determine who is Indigenous.- Janice Hill, Deputy Director of Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation
The report’s authors said they felt that at a minimum, Queen’s validation policy should include citizenship or membership cards, as well as a professional reference and references from a family member and ‘an elected leader of the First Nations, Inuit or Métis.
Those who could not meet the criteria could submit a written story and photographs citing relatives who go no further than grandma or grandpa. The stories would take the form of a sworn statement that would be investigated, the report suggests, and if something was found to be false, the employment contract would be invalid.
“Queen’s, as a colonial institution, has neither the authority nor the right to determine who is Indigenous,” Hill said. “It has to be an indigenous-led process.”
Canada’s residential school system broke the connections that many Indians had with their cultures, which partly explains why it is difficult for some people to specifically establish their citizenship within a given community, Sinclair added. .
The report notes that opinions about what should happen to staff who do not meet the new queen’s requirements range from finding them alternative assignments in college to firing them.
“We have heard strongly that people whose identity claims are unproven or may be unprovable will be moved from places 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.”