Certificate of Decolonization and Indigenization Studies

Since the Dawson First Peoples Initiative was launched in 2015, there have been some momentous shifts in the culture of Dawson College. The place of Indigenous students and Indigenous pedagogical practices has expanded significantly. The First Peoples Centre and the Journeys pathway are two key successes that have led to an increase in our Indigenous student population and to the hiring of new Indigenous staff members. Over this same period, an impressive number of the almost entirely settler[1] faculty, professional and support staff at Dawson College have participated in learning more about their positions in an educational institution that is the product of a settler-colonial past.

Over the 2018-2019 academic year, sixty different faculty, professional and support staff members participated in a series of full-day workshops – led by Indigenous educators, social workers, artists and activists – to learn about how they could begin to make collective changes within each of their individual positions to improve the quality of education for both Indigenous and settler students. Dawson’s First Peoples Initiative has also organized faculty and staff professional development events through Pedagogical Day and the Peace Centre. More recently, faculty and staff participated in the “Truth & ReconciliACTION: Cégeps & Indigenous Futures” event at Vanier College hosted by the Intercollegiate Indigenizing Initiatives Network.

Drawing on this progress, Dawson College will launch the Certificate of Decolonization and Indigenization Studies (DIS) in January 2020. Over 60 courses have already been cross-listed under this certificate, and over 100 students have expressed an interest in enrolling.

The Certificate of Decolonization and Indigenization Studies allows students to explore Canada’s settler-colonial relationship to the wide diversity of Indigenous peoples, while also learning about the many ways that Indigenous peoples have continued to strengthen their cultures in the face of the challenges of settler-colonialism. The DIS will also provide students with the opportunity to participate in co-curricular activities organized at Dawson, and beyond, each year, and to build relationships with Indigenous communities near Montreal and with the urban Indigenous community in the vicinity of the college. For teachers, this certificate will contribute to the building of a community of practice across disciplines, based in innovative Indigenous learning practices and pedagogical initiatives.

Endnotes

[1] Indigenous scholar Chelsea Vowel explains that the term settler is not pejorative: “Settler is a relational term, rather than a racial category… [Settler colonialism] refers to the deliberate and physical occupation of land as a method of asserting ownership over land and resources. The original settlers were of various European origins, and they brought with them their laws and customs, which they then applied to Indigenous peoples and later to all peoples who have come to Canada from non-settler backgrounds. This does not refer only to Europeans with sociopolitical power, but also to those of lower classes who settled here to seek economic opportunity.” Non-European migrants who themselves were displaced by colonization in their own lands, and descendants of people who were brought here against their will “do not have the power to bring with them their laws and customs, which they then apply to the rest of the peoples living in Canada – no matter what some alarmists claim. The dominant sociopolitical structures in place remain European in origin and, as Indigenous people are well aware, they are not so easy to change.” Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit issues in Canada (Winnipeg, Highwater Press, 2016): 16-17.