Carleton’s administration has decided to push the development of the school’s Indigenous revitalization strategy to the 2019-20 academic year.
University president Benoit-Antoine Bacon told the Charlatan the decision to change the timeline, which was initially slated to update the policy this year, is a way of ensuring that all stakeholders are included.
“I know from experience that something so ambitious with such a large group doesn’t go as fast as we would want, and I’m okay with that,” he said. “It’s important to do it well than to do it fast.”
“We can take the time that we need to do it well, and the committee wants to talk to people on and off-campus, and when you get to off-campus, it can be more complicated logistically,” he added.
According to Summer-Harmony Twenish, coordinator of the Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) Mawandoseg Centre, the decision to move the timeline is a step in the right direction.
“Indigenous folks understand what it’s like to have these reconciliation projects fast-tracked for the sake of good press in light of Canada 150,” they said in an email.
“There was a park that was also supposed to be developed outside Paterson Hall in time for Carleton’s 75th . . . Now, it’s closed off because of construction.”
“If they are taking their time with this strategy, I’m holding on to hope that it’s for the best reasons,” Twenish added.
Gavin Woodburn, a sitting member of the committee developing the strategy, said the decision to move the policy’s development to next year is a way of avoiding mistakes.
“Instead of rushing it and making mistakes, we decided to hold many meetings over the months, and make sure we go into it organized and smartly,” he added.
The university’s decision to change the timeline comes on the heels of its announcement of recruiting 10 additional Indigenous tenure-track professors last month.
Twenish said hiring 10 Indigenous tenure-track professors is a good start, but more needs to be done.
“I think administration needs to take a look at their campus ‘culture’ as a whole,” they said. “Hiring 10 Indigenous professors isn’t going to solve the anti-Indigenous sentiments within these classrooms, or among students, staff, and other professors.
According to Twenish, the university also needs to look into providing more support for Indigenous professors.
“I think administration needs to understand that symbolic gestures mean nothing when there are no proper support systems in place for their Indigenous professors,” Twenish said. “There’s a high turnover rate of Indigenous professors on campus and a lot of burnout.”
“Administration needs to be less concerned about their image and fitting into a post-TRC landscape and more concerned about providing genuine, tangible support for the existing and incoming Indigenous professors,” she added.
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