Introduction

In this chapter, we discuss the university’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRC) Report and discuss how members of our department can (a) develop a baseline knowledge of Indigenous history, culture, and knowledge systems, (b) indigenize the content of their courses, (c) indigenize the methods of their courses, (d) support Indigenous Students, Staff, and Faculty, and (e) recognize and teach about the unique context in which Research with Indigenous Communities must occur.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released their groundbreaking “TRC Report”, which documented the horrors of the Canadian residential school system and outlined 94 specific calls to action for Canada to work towards truth and reconciliation. In response to the TRC’s Call to Action, in January 2017, the University of Toronto released a report titled, “Answering the Call Wecheehetowin:  Final Report of the Steering Committee for the University of Toronto Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada”.

UTSC’s 2020-2025 strategic plan Inspiring Inclusive Excellence was motivated, in part, by UTSC’s commitment to implementing U of T’s calls to action. These commitments were further clarified by the 2022 Report of the UTSC Campus Curriculum Review Working Circle, which put forward 56 recommended actions across 7 priority areas: (1) Curriculum Development; (2) Pedagogical Development and Related Supports; (3) Dedicated Academic Homes, Programs, and Spaces for Indigenous and Black Excellence at UTSC; (4) Faculty, Librarian, and Staff Hiring; (5) Community Engagement; (6) Institutional Structures and Supports; and (7) Future of the Working Circle and Foundations for Implementation.

Getting Started

As a first step, we encourage you to develop your own baseline knowledge of Indigenous history, culture, and knowledge systems. The following resources can be a great place to start this learning process.

Calls to Action

• The Truth and Reconciliation Report
• U of T’s response to the TRC Report
• Report of the UTSC Campus Curriculum Review Working Circle

Psychology’s Calls to Action

• Psychology’s Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report
• Calvez and Commings (2022) article provides “concrete recommendations for how psychologists can begin to walk the path of (re)conciliation, working to decolonize and Indigenize psychology. These include knowing our positionality and practicing self-reflection, knowing our space and being inclusive, prioritizing good relations, adopting psychological flexibility and patterns of committed action, and starting within our area of influence” (abstract).
  • Reference: Calvez, S., & Cummings, J. A. (2022). Getting on the path to Indigenization: Embracing (re)conciliation in Canadian psychology. Canadian Psychology = Psychologie Canadienne, 63(4), 569–575. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000344

Educational Modules

The following websites are a great place to start (or continue) your educational journey:

• OISE educational modules: Offers 6 educational modules focused on:
  • Indigenous worldviews
  • Indigenous ways of knowing
  • Power & representation: Stereotypes
  • What is reconciliation?
  • A short history of Indigenous Education
  • We are all treaty people
• UTSC Library research guides
• UTSC Campus Curriculum Resource Hub: Provides a general list of resources “offering equity-based, inclusive, anti-racist, and anti-colonial pedagogical resources for faculty, librarians, staff, and teaching assistants (TAs)”.

Information about Land Acknowledgements

If you wish to build land acknowledgements into your work, the following resources can provide you with guidance on how to do so authentically.

• Why acknowledge the land?
• UTSC Land Acknowledgement
• Native-Land.ca provides an important discussion oriented around key considerations when leading a land acknowledgement.
  • Example of a powerful land acknowledgement: Land acknowledgements: uncovering an oral history of Tkaronto. Video, Sara Roque and Selena Mills. Illustration by Chief Lady Bird. (For a written version click here.)

Indigenizing Your Courses

As noted in the Report of the UTSC Campus Curriculum Review Working Circle, Indigenizing post-secondary environments involves a consideration of both the “curriculum (content) and pedagogy (form): not only what we teach, but how we teach, and the learning environments and related supports and policies that students experience at UTSC” (p. 11). In this section, we provide links to resources that will help you consider not only what you teach in your courses (curriculum), but also how you teach it (pedagogy).

Curriculum (What You Teach)

In addition to general information about Indigenous history, culture, and ways of knowing (see educational modules), which can be incorporated into a range of courses and educational contexts, the following resources provide information specific to the intersection between Psychology and Indigenous ways of knowing.

General / Introduction to Psychology:

Tormala, T., Biddle, A., Martorell, G., Berntsen, L. (2022). 2022 Decolonizing Introductory Psychology STP Presidential Task Force. Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Retrieved from: Link to resource.

• Resources for Decolonizing Introductory Psychology
• Full task force report: Decolonizing Introductory Psychology

Wilbiks, J. M. P. (2021). Indigenizing the introduction to psychology course: Initial course content suggestions and call for collaboration. Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, 62(4), 391–399. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000284

History of Psychology:

Bhatia, S., Long, W., Pickren, W., & Rutherford, A. (2024). Engaging with decoloniality, decolonization, and histories of psychology otherwise. In L. Comas-Díaz, H. Y. Adames, & N. Y. Chavez-Dueñas (Eds.), Decolonial psychology: Toward anticolonial theories, research, training, and practice (pp. 61–85). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000376-004

Research Methods / Statistics:

Chapter 9 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2, 2022) focuses on the unique ethical considerations that arise when conducting research Involving First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada.

Tassell, N. A., Herbert, A. M. L., Evans, I. M., & Young, P. TeW. A. (2012). Principles of Indigenous Ethics and Psychological Interventions. In The Oxford Handbook of International Psychological Ethics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199739165.013.0013

Clinical Psychology / Counselling / Mental Health Studies:

First Peoples Wellness Circle. The First Peoples Wellness Circle (FPWC) is an Indigenous-led national not-for-profit dedicated to enhancing the lives of First Peoples in Canada by addressing healing, wellness, and mental wellness barriers. It has released reports related to:

• Substance Use Treatment and Land-Based Healing
• Life Promotion & Suicide Prevention
• Workforce Wellness
• Family Violence Prevention

Ansloos, J., Day, S., Peltier, S., Graham, H., Ferguson, A., Gabriel, M., Stewart, S., Fellner, K., & DuPré, L. (2022). Indigenization in clinical and counselling psychology curriculum in Canada: A framework for enhancing Indigenous education. Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, 63(4), 545–568. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000335

Tassell, N. A., Herbert, A. M. L., Evans, I. M., & Young, P. TeW. A. (2012). Principles of Indigenous Ethics and Psychological Interventions. In The Oxford Handbook of International Psychological Ethics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199739165.013.0013

Child Development / Families

Halseth, R., & Greenwood, M. (2019). Indigenous early childhood development in Canada: Current state of knowledge and future directions. Prince George, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. Retrieved from: https://www.nccih.ca/docs/health/RPT-ECD-PHAC-Greenwood-Halseth-EN.pdf

Ontario Human Rights Commission (2018, Feb.). Interrupted childhoods: Over-representation of Indigenous and Black children in Ontario child welfare. Retrieved from https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/interrupted-childhoods

Task Group on Mental Wellness (2023). Family violence prevention: Recommendations on supporting family violence prevention and mental wellness for remote and isolated Indigenous communities. Retrieved from https://fpwc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NPH-Family-Violence-Prevention-Report_EN_Final_Digital_low-res.pdf

Social, Community, and Organizational Psychology

Fish, J., Ansloos, J., O’Keefe, V. M., & Gone, J. P. (2024). Truth and reconciliation for whom? Transitional justice for Indigenous peoples in American psychology. The American Psychologist, 79(4), 618–630. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001234

O’Keefe, V. M., & Hartmann, W. E. (2019). Working together to advance Indigenous interests with community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1–2), 185–190. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12381

Task Group on Mental Wellness (2022, July). Workforce wellness. Retrieved from https://fpwc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NPH-Workforce-Wellness-Report_WEB.pdf

Pedagogy (How You Teach)

An important element of Indigenizing curriculum is not just about what you teach, but how you teach it. Quoted below are some questions posed by Tormala et al. (2022) for decolonizing the pedagogy of your courses. They refer to Introduction to Psychology courses, but these suggestions can be applied to any course:

• Reflect: How is your Intro Psych course currently reflective of colonial structures?
• Revamp: When adding more diverse voices to your course, do you also actively call attention to issues of power?
• Reimagine: What is the purpose of each of your assignments? How can we reach the students we have?
• Restructure: How can we restructure classroom dynamics to shift power and increase student engagement?
• Rethink: How can we shift our pedagogies to use students’ lived experiences as an equally valid source of knowledge?
• Realign: Are your assessments giving everyone equal opportunity to demonstrate learning?

General Approaches: This article by Brunette Debassige (2022), “identifies five predominant approaches to Indigenizing the curriculum occurring within Canadian universities today. Examining these approaches in relation to theories of change articulated by Gaudry and Lorenz (2018) and Stein (2020), the article considers the possibilities and limits of each approach as well as the degree to which they challenge the colonial and Eurocentric edifices of Canadian universities” (abstract).

• Reference: Brunette Debassige, C., Wakeham, P., Smithers-Graeme, C., Haque, A., & Chitty, S. M. (2022). Mapping approaches to decolonizing and Indigenizing the curriculum at Canadian Universities: Critical reflections on current practices, challenges, and possibilities. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 13(3), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2022.13.3.14109

Principles of Integrative Science: The Institute for Integrative Science & Health (IISH) defines “Integrative Science” as bringing together Indigenous and Western scientific knowledges and ways of knowing. IISH offers a variety of themes, guiding principles, and lessons learned from their work that could be of benefit to anyone wishing to build principles of integrative science into their own teaching or research.

Indigenizing Learning Outcomes: In this article, LaFever (2016) discusses ways that you can use traditional teachings around the medicine wheel to shape your learning outcomes to support Indigenous ways of knowing.

• LaFever, M. (2016). Switching from Bloom to the Medicine Wheel: Creating learning outcomes that support Indigenous ways of knowing in post-secondary education. Intercultural Education, 27 (5), 409-424, https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2016.1240496

Moving from Theory to Practice: Module 2 (Conversations on Decolonization) of UBC’s free introductory course on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Teaching and Learning (link) includes information that can help you:

• Reflect on the importance of decolonization
• Consider decolonization practices in teaching and learning
• Move from decolonization theory to teaching practice

Supporting Indigenous Students, Staff, and Faculty

Becoming a non-Indigneous ally: Schmidt, H. (2019). Indigenizing and decolonizing the teaching of psychology: Reflections on the role of the non‐Indigenous ally. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1–2), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12365

UofT/UTSC Campus Resources

• Campus Elders: “Indigenous elders at UofT are very important members of our community who come from various First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities”. Our campus elders “serve as teachers, healers, advisors and counsellors” to our Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, staff, and faculty.
• Indigenous initiatives: “Indigenous Initiatives at UTSC, in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, highlight and celebrate Indigenous ways of knowing by fostering campus and community partnerships and creating an atmosphere which welcomes respectful dialogues that disrupt common narratives”.
• UTSC’s Indigenous House: The envisioned Indigenous House at the University of Toronto Scarborough will “bring together our community of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous lifelong learners, by supporting and celebrating diverse Indigenous Ways of Knowing locally and from across Turtle Island”.
• First Nations House: Located on the downtown campus, First Nations House provides “culturally relevant services to Indigenous students to support academic success, personal growth and leadership development”.
• Indigenous Education Network: “The IEN offers a range of programming specifically for Indigenous, Black-Indigenous and Black students”.

Research with Indigenous Communities

Anyone in our department who wishes to conduct research focused on the experiences of First Nation, Inuit, or Métis individuals and/or who wish to conduct research in collaboration with First Nation, Inuit, or Métis communities, must be aware that there are important and unique ethical guidelines and considerations that must be considered before initiating this work. The following documents provide two important introductory resources:

Current Ethical Guidelines. Chapter 9 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2, 2022) focuses on research Involving the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada, including:

• A. Key Concepts and Definitions
• B. Interpreting the Ethics Framework in Indigenous Contexts
• C. Applying Provisions of This Policy in Indigenous Contexts

Indigenous Research Ethics Consultation Report. In Fall 2019 the University of Toronto Provost’s Office appointed an Academic Advisor of Indigenous Research (AAIR) who started a working group called the Indigenous Research Circle. That working group produced a report that highlighted key challenges to this work, Indigenous values and principles that should guide this work, and a set of recommendations for moving forward based on a Wholistic Indigenous Framework.

Check Your Understanding

Important Terms to Know

In Canada, the term Indigenous collectively refers to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people and communities. The terms “Indian” and “Aboriginal” are considered outdated and should not be used by non-Indigenous people (although some Indigenous people may still use and/or prefer these terms). While the term Indigenous can be used to collectively refer to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people across Turtle Island, you should refer to specific tribes, nations, or languages when referring to a specific group of people. (There are more than 630 First Nations communities in Canada and over 70 Indigenous languages spoken across Canada).

First Nations. “In Canada, an Indigenous grouping composed of many different nations having their own origin, history and culture, and whose members have called North America home for thousands of years” (Canadian Guide on EDI Terminology).

Indigenous. “The term ‘Indigenous’ refers to all of these groups, either collectively or separately, and is the term used in international contexts, e.g., the ‘United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (UNDRIP)” (QU Indigenous Terminology Guide).

Indigenization. “The process of naturalizing Indigenous knowledge systems and making them evident to transform spaces, places, and hearts. In the context of post-secondary education, this involves bringing Indigenous knowledge and approaches together with Western knowledge systems. It is a deliberate coming together of these two ways of being” (Antoine et al., 2018).

Indigenous Epistemologies. “Theory of knowledge that is based on Indigenous perspectives, such as relationality, the interconnection of sacred and secular, and holism. The emotional, spiritual, cognitive, and physical dimensions of knowledge are common in Indigenous epistemologies” (Antoine et al., 2018).

Indigenous Knowledge. “Knowledge systems embedded in relationship to specific lands, culture, and community (Antoine et al., 2018).

Indigenous Pedagogies. “The method and practice of teaching that focus on the development of a human being as a whole person, learning through experience, and recognizing that Elders have an important role in passing on wisdom and knowledge” (Antoine et al., 2018).

Inuit. “In Canada, an Indigenous People that inhabits or that traditionally inhabited the northern regions and Arctic coasts of Canada known as Inuit Nunangat, and whose members are united by a common origin, history and culture” (Canadian Guide on EDI Terminology).

Land Acknowledgement. “A statement recognizing that a person or group of people is on a territory currently or historically occupied by an Indigenous community and to which this community has spiritual, cultural or economic connections” (Canadian Guide on EDI Terminology).

Métis. “In Canada, an Indigenous People whose members are of mixed First Nations and European ancestry, are united by a common origin, history and culture, and are generally accepted by the Métis Nation” (Canadian Guide on EDI Terminology).

Tkaronto. Tkaronto is a Mohawk word that has been used to describe Toronto / the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). As reported by BlogTO, “Tkaronto is a Mohawk word meaning “where there are trees standing in the water,” according to several Mohawk speakers and aboriginal language expert John Steckley”.

Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk). “Refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing … and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all” (Institute for Integrative Science & Health).

Turtle Island. “For some Indigenous peoples, Turtle Island refers to the continent of North America. The name comes from various Indigenous oral histories that tell stories of a turtle that holds the world on its back. For some Indigenous peoples, the turtle is therefore considered an icon of life, and the story of Turtle Island consequently speaks to various spiritual and cultural beliefs” (CanadianEncyclopedia).

References

Brunette Debassige, C., Wakeham, P., Smithers-Graeme, C., Haque, A., & Chitty, S. M. (2022). Mapping approaches to decolonizing and Indigenizing the curriculum at Canadian Universities: Critical reflections on current practices, challenges, and possibilities. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 13(3), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2022.13.3.14109

Calvez, S., & Cummings, J. A. (2022). Getting on the path to Indigenization: Embracing (re)conciliation in Canadian psychology. Canadian Psychology = Psychologie Canadienne, 63(4), 569–575. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000344

Schmidt, H. (2019). Indigenizing and decolonizing the teaching of psychology: Reflections on the role of the non‐Indigenous ally. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1–2), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12365

UTSC Campus Curriculum Review (2022). Report of the UTSC Campus Curriculum Review Working Circle 2020-2022 Recommended Actions, Learnings, and Next Steps Working Circle 2020-2022. Retrieved from https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/curriculum-review/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.curriculum-review/files/docs/UTSC%20Campus%20Curriculum%20Review-Full%20Document-FNL.pdf

Contributions

Roles follow the CRediT Taxonomy. Names are listed in alphabetical order.

Conceptualization and Writing – Original draft: Kosha Bramesfeld

Writing – Review & editing: Showmi Sribaskar