URise Indigenous
Enrich and enhance learning, engagement, awareness, and understanding of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples, identities, worldviews, and cultures, increasing intercultural capacity.
URise Indigenous is intended to enrich and enhance your engagement and understanding of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples, including their identities, worldviews, and cultures. By participating, staff and faculty are invited to learn, reflect, and enhance their understanding of Indigenous ways of connecting, knowing, being, doing, and furthering their understanding of truth and reconciliation, Indigenous-Settler relations, history, Indian Act policy, anti-Indigenous racism, connection to the land, and the interwoven relationships among place and people.
URise Indigenous is suitable for all employees at any stage of their career
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Core Courses
This course will introduce learners to the history and content of our Indigenous Strategy, ii' taa'poh'to'p, guiding our way forward 'in a good way' on the path towards reconciliation in response to the 2015 Final Report on Truth and Reconciliation. This course includes the following topics: Territorial Acknowledgement, What Is Reconciliation?, Our Journey, Guiding Principles, Conceptual and Cultural Models, Looking to the Future, and Resources.
Intended audience: All ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Employees
Delivery Mode: Asynchronous
Time Commitment: 1 hour
The introductory level session provides an overview of the diversity of Indigenous people in Canada. The topics covered in this session provide information on terminology related to Indigenous peoples and the concept of reconciliation, explore common misconceptions, and offer an opportunity for participants to learn more about and consider the effects of colonization and the impact of residential schools.
Intended audience: All ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Employees
Delivery Mode: Asynchronous
Time Commitment: 1 hour
The Land Acknowledgment workshop is an opportunity for ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ campus community to come together and learn how to develop a meaningful Land Acknowledgment. Workshop participants will learn the history of how Land Acknowledgments came to be in Academia, how to pronounce the Indigenous Languages in the Territorial Land Acknowledgment, how Indigenous People acknowledge the land, tips and tricks and time for questions and answers. Participants will increase their knowledge of Indigenous peoples' cultures and history in Treaty 7 and will gain more confidence in acknowledging the land in a meaningful way.
Intended audience: All ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Employees
Delivery Mode: In-person Synchronous
Time Commitment: 1.5 hour
21 things you may not know about the Indian Act: This interactive learning workshop addresses the history of the Indian Act of 1876. The Indian Act, from the beginning, was envisioned as the tool that the Canadian Federal Government needed to solve the 'Indian Problem' forever - extermination of the cultures by assimilation. This was the main objective. The Indian Act was an act of segregation, subjugation, and control of First Nations people. Early renditions of the Indian Act introduced several laws limiting freedom, prohibiting First Nations cultural expression, and denying basic levels of sovereignty and self-determination.
Intended audience: All ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Employees
Delivery Mode: In-person Synchronous
Time Commitment: 2 hours
Optional Courses
The Office of Indigenous Engagement are the stewards of the ii' taa'poh'to'p Tipis, which includes a large Tipi for Teaching and Learning and a smaller Ceremonial Tipi. The ii' taa'poh'to'p Tipi design is a cultural gift designed and transferred to the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Indigenous strategy by Piikani Elder Dr. Reg Crowshoe in June 2018. The ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ ii' taa'poh'to'p Tipi allows us to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and doing into teaching, learning and events on campus. Coming together to learn about the Tipi creates ethical space for dialogue. Shared Space (Ethical Space) is a foundation in our ii' taa'poh'to'p strategy (2017) where we gather in "an equitable place that is inclusive, respectful, and exploratory; a safe place to share ideas that help guide and shape the process of renewal and transformation" (p. 11). According to ceremonial leader and cultural advisor, Reg Crowshoe, "the Tipi represents the ethical space for the strategy and is a place to build relatives."
The Tipi Training Program will be facilitated by Treaty 7 Traditional Knowledge Keepers and will include step by step instructions on how to set up and take down the ii' taa'poh'to'p Tipis in the traditional Blackfoot way. Participants will learn Tipi protocols and how to best take care of the Tipi, as well as the significance and history of these sacred lodges. The training ensures we are raising the Tipi in safe way for all participants as well as respecting cultural protocols.
Intended audience: All ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Employees
Delivery Mode: In-person Synchronous
Time Commitment: 4 hours
The Anti-Indigenous Racism Workshop is a step in addressing this barrier while establishing a welcoming, inclusive, and culturally safe campus community for Indigenous peoples. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples continue to be negatively impacted by racism and are significantly underrepresented in higher education across Turtle Island. One of the main institutions that perpetuates racism towards Indigenous peoples is education and is a barrier they continue to face. This is concerning and as Canadian universities and colleges respond to reconciliation, there is an urgent need to address racism and strategically move into potential solutions to address this barrier for Indigenous peoples. Removing the barrier of racism is needed to increasing and empowering recruitment, retention, and achievement for Indigenous peoples in higher education.
Intended audience: All ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Employees
Delivery Mode: In-person Synchronous
Time Commitment: 3 hours
Additional Information
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Reference Guides
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Office of Indigenous Engagement
The Office of Indigenous Engagement and ii' taa'poh'to'p guide ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ on its path of transformation, and communicate its commitment and responsibility for truth and reconciliation.