Presented as part of the Faculty & Curriculum Development Centre’s Indigenous Education Speaker Series to facilitate respectful knowledge-sharing, this free public education talk is open to all students, faculty, staff, and the broader community.
 

DR. MARIE BATTISTE, O.C.
COGNITIVE JUSTICE AND TRANSSYSTEMIC CHANGE: INDIGENIZATION IN THE ACADEMY
Thursday, September 26^th, 2019 | 6:30pm - 8:30pm
OCAD University, 100 McCaul St, Room 190 (main auditorium)

Abstract:

“2015 was an auspicious, if not a heavy hitting year to universities. The Universities Canada issued their agreed upon Indigenization plan in 13 points to help universities and colleges address some common agreed upon ideas among the presidents for contributing to their concept of Indigenization. In the same year,  the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its final report on the survivor testimonies and historical research of the Indian Residential Schools, together with its 94 Calls to Action directed to all levels of government, business, educational, social work and medical institutions, law, media, and civil society, to address the years of ignorance, hatred, racism, violence, silence, and systemic abuse of youth and intergeneration of Indigenous peoples caught in those institutions. These two documents have since stimulated an array of activity in PSE to address layers of inequities the system and societies have generated. This talk will examine diverse assumptions and outcomes of emergent changes in the conventional postsecondary education system and offer another decolonizing analysis and experiential thinking about needed changes when transsystemic change is respected and activated. How the directives to Indigenize the academy can be taken up and mobilized from another knowledge system is a premise of this talk for which I aspire to offer some perspectives and critique of assumptions and possible thoughts for decolonizing educational institutions and their foundations.” - Dr. Marie Battiste

Dr. Battiste’s talk will be followed by a question and answer period. All are welcome.

Dr. Marie Battiste is Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia’s Potlotek First Nation and was recently awarded as an Officer of the Order of Canada, 2019. She is most well-known as an author and educator with immense contributions to the field of Indigenous education and an unflinching commitment to traditional languages and knowledges. Currently a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, she holds a Master's degree from Harvard and a PhD from Stanford University.