The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) and the Carleton University Students’ Association’s Aboriginal Service Centre (ASC) announced plans to get involved with the recently released Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) report and implement the report’s findings on campus at a meeting Sept. 17.
Together, the two groups will form a committee to research and write a report about the TRC and its impact on Carleton’s campus.
According to the GSA website, the committee will present its findings to the university administration and publish the report online.
The TRC committee was originally formed when Theo Hug, GSA vice-president (external), created a motion that was passed through to the GSA council this past June.
The TRC is a group that aims to facilitate understanding and awareness of the impact Aboriginal residential schools had on what is estimated as 150,000 Aboriginal children and families.
In June of this year, the TRC published a report condemning Canada’s history of colonialism as well as 94 recommendations for working towards reconciliation with Aboriginal peoples.
Theo Hug said there are several reasons why the association chose to approach the issue.
“Firstly, we believe it is not enough to simply recognize that Carleton is located on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin territory, but rather we need to keep that knowledge at the forefront of our minds in all the work we do,” Hug said.
Ash Courchene, ASC co-ordinator, said the committee hopes to bring the TRC’s recommendations to Carleton.
“The ideal outcome of the committee and the report is to essentially bring to the attention of the university administration the ways in which students from Carleton wish to see the TRC’s recommendations implemented on the Carleton campus,” he said.
Courchene said Carleton has already taken several steps to increasing access to education for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people, yet the committee intends to look for ways that they can further this accessibility.
The committee is advocating for making Indigenous studies courses compulsory for students, such as how Lakehead University has done, according to Courchene.
Hug said the GSA believes education has a key part in the process of reconciliation, hence the reason why they think post-secondary institutions are practical locations for applying these recommendations.
He said in order to eliminate gaps in education and employment, as well as incorporate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms, setting the organization in a university environment is necessary.
Courchene said the committee had about 15 attendees who spoke on a number of issues within the institution regarding Indigenous students that were either not receiving attention or had been cast aside by university administrations in having those issues and concerns addressed.
Carleton president Roseann Runte said that although the university has a committee in place already, more input from students is always welcome.
“The university has an Aboriginal Vision committee, which includes faculty, staff and students, and members of the First Nations communities around us,” Runte said. “So there really is a campus reaction to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It’s really great that students have a committee in addition. That’s nice too.”
