Carleton announced a new strategy to showcase its commitment to the aboriginal population on and near campus, Nov. 21.
The Aboriginal Co-ordinated Strategy was first approved by Carleton’s Senate in June. It is founded on the idea that Carleton’s campus is on traditional land still belonging to the Algonquin nation.
“We’re at a point where we’re trying to move ahead with the work we do with aboriginal people,” said Mallory Whiteduck, aboriginal cultural liaison officer for the Centre for Aboriginal Culture and Education (CACE).
The CACE has grown a lot over the past three years and there has been a lot of activity in the department, Whiteduck said.
Carleton’s Task Force on Aboriginal Affairs recommended that some kind of strategy was needed if Carleton wanted to become more involved in aboriginal communities, Whiteduck said.
The strategy lays out to how to get aboriginal peoples on campus and in the community further involved at Carleton in a way that respects their roots and culture, according to a university press release.
The task force urged Carleton to recognize the importance of traditional knowledge and try to find a way to work it into campus life and learning, according to its strategy document. It also lays out the core values Carleton will follow as it works towards engaging aboriginals on campus and in the community.
Using Carleton’s position on Algonquin land as a base, the strategy looks at the idea that aboriginal staff, students and faculty are between two worlds and can give knowledge from one to the other, the document stated.
Indigenous knowledge is important on campus and in keeping with the strategy’s core values, Carleton will look for opportunities to include it on campus, according to the document.
The university will also aim to create an environment where aboriginal people can fully connect with the community on campus and explore the history shared by aboriginals and non-aboriginal Canadians, according to the document.
Involvement with these communities isn’t new to Carleton, and the strategy isn’t proposing a complete game-change in terms of the university’s current interaction with the aboriginal population.
“It builds on the good things Carleton is already doing,” Whiteduck said.
These things include inviting elders to the campus to share their knowledge and creating a support program for aboriginal people looking to enter university.
Whiteduck said she sees the strategy as a way of guiding Carleton, as the university begins to build relationships with the aboriginal communities in the area and around the country.
But aboriginals aren’t the only ones to benefit from this strategy.
“We see this as a starting point for [non-aboriginal] students to understand the First Peoples, for faculty members who wish to include indigenous knowledge in their teaching, and for staff to express [aboriginal] identities,” said Carleton provost and vice-president (academic) Peter Ricketts in a press release.
Ricketts, the co-chair of the Task Force on Aboriginal Affairs, said the Aboriginal Co-ordinated Strategy is a major milestone for the university.