Dr Laara Fitznor calls on universities to present an Indigenous perspective in education during Indigenous Awareness Week

Kicking off the first day of Indigenous Awareness Week, on September 9, McGill’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives hosted Dr. Laara Fitznor for her keynote address, “Engaging Indigenous Philosophies and Practices for Mutual Respect and Leadership in University Landscapes.” During her conference, she spoke about Indigenous inclusion in Canadian universities and what can be done to advance the cause.

Fitznor is a long-time supporter of Indigenous perspectives and ideas in the classroom. She has collaborated with the University of Manitoba and the University of Toronto to expand positions and programs dedicated to Indigenous education. Her work was recently published entitled Land as relationship: teaching and learning through place, people and practices for her essay focusing on the importance of Indigenous history and land rights for teaching in a way that supports the next generations of Indigenous students.

She emphasized the importance of specialized teams led by indigenous people. She says universities need to “provide strong administrative support” and if an indigenous education team “doesn’t have the same profile as other entities, bring up that profile.”

Indigenous Awareness Week at McGill is a reminder of the work Montreal universities need to do to raise the quality of Indigenous students and faculty. Over the summer, McGill announced a new tuition initiative that will include educational funding for Indigenous students, and just last week Concordia University followed suit by revealing its own plans to eliminate tuition fees for Indigenous students on most degree programs.

In response to these changes, Fitznor emphasized that supporting indigenous ideas and implementing supportive policies should occur at every level. Describing her time as a lecturer at the University of Manitoba, she highlighted the drive her department had to create progress and how this spurred important change.

“We shouldn’t have to wait for the province to tell us to do this,” Fitznor insisted. “Let us do this because it is right for the heart and body of this earth.”
Fiznor’s concept of “change” refers to the benefits that must be achieved not only by educational institutions, but also by broader social change towards a future that rewrites its colonial history. Fitznor believes that such changes should occur at all levels of influence, from students to the highest levels of government. Student engagement may look like attending classes that emphasize Native perspectives. At the faculty level, this means ensuring that every student has access to classes that draw on Indigenous ideas and practices.

In terms of the subject material students learn at their universities, Fitznor believes that true education in Indigenous intersectionality is about “making sure that for every discipline there should be an Aboriginal perspective on that discipline.”

Not every program currently highlights this at McGill. According to Sophie Ou, an accounting student at McGill who attended the event, indigenous education rarely features in her courses.
“There are a lot of internships and a lot of networking in my department right now,” Ou described. “If I hadn’t received the professor’s encouragement, I wouldn’t have been able to experience that moving moment of learning more.” She attended the event as part of a class, but said it made her want to continue learning about Indigenous education outside of class.

Additionally, Manola Sob, a McGill psychology student who was also present at the lecture, emphasized that such events inspire her to take action.
“It makes me want to learn more and do more,” Sob said.

As of 2023 in Canada, non-Indigenous youth were almost twice as likely to complete a university degree compared to Indigenous youth. According to Fitznor, much of the disparity in education is due to a lack of representation of Indigenous-related topics in the classroom. “How can we get the university to change if we don’t know who we are?” Fitznor asked, referring to the lack of space for conversations about Indigenous identity in university spaces that often exist.

Otsi’tsaken:ra, a faithful believer, began the event by sharing Indigenous teachings and explaining how they are integral to Indigenous rights and representation in the future.
“What we do today will impact our children for seven generations into the future,” he said, echoing generations of Elders.

As this is McGill’s 14th Indigenous Awareness Week, Otsi’tsaken:ra described the importance of such events at universities given the historical erasure of Indigenous perspectives.
“I’m just happy they’re doing something like this,” Otsi’tsaken:ra thought. “For 100 years, no one cared about it, including universities.”

Otsi’tsaken:ra has been speaking at Montreal universities for decades. He says that talking about indigenous customs expands knowledge. As for the future, he emphasized the power of spreading awareness. “Keep talking about our ways, share your knowledge,” Otsi’tsaken:ra emphasized. “Still feel what our ways say.”

For Fitznor, impact is paramount to creating a better future for Indigenous education.
“Don’t come and listen,” Fitznor advised. “What will you do with what you learn?”