The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) launched the Ontario arm of a ReconciliAction campaign at Carleton on Oct. 15.
The ReconciliAction campaign is a national advocacy initiative aimed at getting post-secondary schools to establish university degrees and programs in Indigenous languages—the 16th recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
The TRC is a federal study that outlines a list of calls to action for different areas of government and society to follow so that Canada can move towards reconciliation with Indigenous people in the country.
The initiative has three main pillars of focus: faculty development, academic development, and campus revitalization. The pillars were outlined by Summer-Harmony Twenish, administrative co-ordinator of the Carleton University Students’ Association Mawandoseg Centre.
Some goals for the campaign at Carleton include hiring more Indigenous faculty, developing multi-year degree programs for Indigenous languages, and bringing more Indigenous-focused sites on campus for student use.
Ashley Courchene, GSA’s vice-president (finance), said the initiative is important because Indigenous languages are under the threat of disappearing.
“It’s vitally important for us on a personal level, but also on the macro-level,” he said. “This initiative is going to help bring that to the forefront and make sure that languages are supported and continually used.”
Coty Zacharias, co-chair of the CFS, said he was shocked that he has seen only 1000-level courses in Indigenous languages at universities.
Zacharias said there needs to be a shift in hiring accreditation because people who are actually fluent in Indigenous languages aren’t able to teach on campus since they don’t have university degrees.
Courchene said he personally supports the initiative because taking a course in an Indigenous language helped him understand where he comes from.
“Our family moved away . . . and we lost connection to our language,” he said. “It wasn’t until maybe my third or fourth-year in undergraduate studies that I got to take an Anishinaabemowin course, and through those studies, I was able to see this worldview of my ancestors, which I had not seen before.”
Gavin Woodburn, co-chair of the First Peoples Council, said members of the campaign are currently working with Carleton’s linguistics faculty and are in early talks with them about language programs. He said he hopes to start seeing changes for next year.
Woodburn said the university should also improve signage around campus.
“So many international students that are here have no idea that they’re on Algonquin territory,” he said. “They just come here knowing it’s Ottawa, and don’t realize that there’s a presence of Indigenous students on campus.”
Diana Idibe, CUSA’s vice-president (student services), was also at the event. She said what drew her to the campaign was the fact that it is student-driven.
“I think it’s important that students create space or demand the space that they take up, and I’m very happy to support that work,” she said.
Idibe said she is “really hoping that [CUSA is] in a position to engage with this campaign and the work of the federation as a whole.”
Twenish said the centre will continue to implement the different calls to action of the campaign.
Photo by Lauren Hicks
