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250 leaders gather at UVic for forum on universities’ role in reconciliation

About 250 leaders from Indigenous communities, government and universities will be at the University of Victoria today to discuss how post-secondary institutions can aid in telling truths and reconciling with Aboriginal Peoples.

About 250 leaders from Indigenous communities, government and universities will be at the University of Victoria today to discuss how post-secondary institutions can aid in telling truths and reconciling with Aboriginal Peoples.

The theme of the two-day forum, the fourth of its kind, is “Ts’its’u’watal tseep,” which means “helping one another” in the Hul’q’umi’num language.

Prof. Jean-Paul Restoule, chair of Indigenous education at UVic, said he is looking forward to hearing experiences from across the country as universities insert themselves into the reconciliation process.

He called it “one of the most important challenges for post-secondary institutions in Canada.”

“Whether they are from Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Toronto or Nippissing, there will be stories to share and some of the best practices to hear about,” said Restoule, an Anishinaabe from the Dokis First Nation in Ontario.

He said it’s time for universities to commit themselves to better welcoming and honouring First Nations people as faculty, staff and students.

Restoule said he has heard of Indigenous viewpoints getting dismissed, even ridiculed. Some university discussions of archeology at times won’t consider Indigenous viewpoints, perspectives, customs or traditions, he said.

“That’s not to say we can’t look at evidence, question it or challenge it,” he said. “But let’s hear the Indigenous perspectives, too.”

Truth and reconciliation has become a rallying cry in Canada. In 2015 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report on the history and legacy of Canada’s residential school system and made 94 calls to action.

“It’s all about trying to do the right thing, addressing the relationships with Indigenous Peoples so they can counter the burden of experiences that occurred as a result of residential schooling or other assimilative processes,” Restoule said.

UVic Prof. Robina Thomas, executive director of the UVic office of Indigenous academic and community engagement, said she sometimes hears people complain that truth and reconciliation has nothing to do with them.

“They say: ‘I didn’t do any of that so why do I need to be part of any solution?’ ” Thomas said. “But we as Canadian citizens have to accept these were our policies and our practices and so the consequences are our shared responsibilities.

“In my classes we don’t talk about Indigenous issues or problems, we talk about Canadian issues,” she said.

Thomas also said that as an educator, she continues to take guidance from an often-repeated quote of Sen. Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2009 to 2015, and challenged Canada’s educators at its end.

“He said: ‘It’s education that got us here and it will be education that will get us out,’ ” she said.

rwatts@timescolonist.com