Truth and Reconciliation

Strengthen connections with our past, present, and future.

We are committed to reconciliation through teaching, research, learning, and service efforts across our campuses, and throughout the province. We aspire to walk together in a good way and strengthen our relationships which are based on mutual respect and accountability. This commitment will enhance learning and strengthen relationships by honouring the past, present, and future to create a new shared vision for the next generations.

GOAL: Take significant action on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action relevant to post-secondary education.2

Objectives

a) Improve supports for Indigenous students, faculty, and staff.

First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities have unique needs, including access to Elders and knowledge keepers, as well as community supports and mentorship programs. Ensuring these communities have strong relationships with one another, and with the University of Regina as a whole, is crucial to our shared success.

  • Increase Indigenous faculty, representative leadership, and workforce.
  • Develop and implement general principles for engagement with Indigenous individuals and communities.
  • Commit to stable and diverse presence of Elders and knowledge keepers.
  • Support and encourage opportunities for respectful ceremonial participation for all learners.
  • Create opportunities and enhance student success by increasing availability of academic and student supports that are relevant, culturally affirming, and innovative.
  • Create opportunities for all learners to learn and engage with Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

b) Provide educational opportunities and experiences across Saskatchewan.

Connections to communities outside of the City of Regina are crucial to our commitment as a provincial university. Many Indigenous communities are located in northern and remote areas of the province, and students should not need to travel and relocate to urban areas. We will continue our expansion of community-based partnerships committed to education, ensuring all residents of Saskatchewan can access high-quality education.

  • Commit to continued and expanded Indigenous community connections to build relationships and collaboratively, strategically, and intentionally work together for the best interest of Indigenous students and their communities.
  • Continue to build and strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities that facilitate accountable education and research.
  • Increase number of collaborative projects with tribal councils, Reconciliation coalitions, governments, and Indigenous communities to align education and research-based need with the University of Regina, provincially and nationally.
  • Evaluate distance and distributed learning opportunities and technologies to enhance flexible learning options for students.
  • Build and strengthen relationships with First Nations University of Canada, Gabriel Dumont Institute, Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies, satellite campuses, and regional colleges.

c) Incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing into teaching and research.

Our relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities are integral to our identity and sense of social purpose at the University of Regina. By integrating Indigenous ways of knowing into our scholarly activities, and cultivating a community of reciprocity, we continue to reconcile our past and work towards a stronger future together.

  • Continue to implement and respond to the University of Regina’s “Statement of Commitment in Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)”. The goals outlined in the “Guide to TRC’s Calls to Action at the University of Regina” specify that students, staff, and faculty have: a knowledge of treaties; an understanding of Canada’s history; an awareness of Indigenous ways of knowing; knowledge of the TRC’s Final Report, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and the UN Declaration of the Right of Indigenous Peoples; and an understanding of the role they can play in reconciliation.
  • Provide supports and training for respectful and meaningful integration of Indigenous ways of knowing into courses and community outreach activities.
  • Build and strengthen our relationships with urban, rural, and remote Indigenous communities with an aim of accountable and reciprocal research.
  • Enhance Indigenous engagement in the research enterprise.
  • Students, faculty, and staff complete the Four Seasons of Reconciliation program.
  • Enhance professional development opportunities and supports for units and faculties to learn to Indigenize and decolonize pedagogy, curricula, policies, procedures, and processes.

2 14 Calls to Action were identified by the U of R Reconciliation Action Committee in their Truth and Reconciliation Commission Working Group Guide:  #14, 16, 24, 43, 44, 57, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 70, 86, 87