Hannah James

The University of Toronto's Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education has long led the charge for equity and diversity, from increasing women's participation in sport, to implementing campaigns such as the Change Room Project for a more inclusive locker-room culture, to running SOAR, a March Break program for Indigenous teens.

Now, KPE has set up a task force to improve equity and diversity in all its programming, including sports, recreation, intramurals, curricula and research.

Its Task Force on Race and Indigeneity, which has been meeting since the summer, was inspired by U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation efforts, says Ira Jacobs, dean and professor at KPE.

“Our faculty has a unique opportunity and responsibility to connect with more students than almost any other division,” says Jacobs. “Our co-curricular programs must welcome, invite and contribute to the health and well-being of all of our students.”

KPE is aiming to release the task force's final report and recommendations by late summer or early fall.

Dean Ira Jacobs says equity and diversity have long been a priority for KPE, but the TRC prompted the faculty to take a deeper look at its programming through the lens of race and Indigeneity (photo courtesy of Seed9)

Almost one year ago, U of T's Truth and Reconciliation steering committee released its final report, with 34 calls to action for the university to improve its relationship with Indigenous people. The report, called Wecheehetowin, which means “working together” in Cree, highlights that the work to be done at U of T will need to be a collective journey.

Read the full TRC steering committee report

At KPE, the Task Force on Race and Indigeneity has set out four aspects of programming that might not fully support racial diversity and Indigeneity and is addressing each with working groups of staff, faculty, students, an Indigenous Elder and community members. The working groups are looking at:

Student recruitment, admissions, success and retention
Staff and faculty recruitment, retention and advancement
Curriculum, research, pedagogy and learning
Recreation and sport, community outreach and recruitment

There were more than 90 applications from people wanting to participate in the working groups, says Sharon Grandison, KPE’s director of human resources and task force co-chair. “The tremendous response to our call for applicants to join our working groups is indicative of just how timely this initiative is,” she says. “We couldn’t be more pleased to have this level of engagement.”

Other task force members include: Ernie Sandy, a member of the Indigenous Elders' Circle at U of T; Lamia Aganagic, an undergraduate student at KPE; Cathy Amara, assistant professor, teaching stream, at KPE; Shannon Simpson, director of First Nations House; Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Camacho, a PhD candidate at OISE and researcher at Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health; Greg Gary, former Varsity Blues football head coach; Sarah Bear, a recent U of T graduate and peer mentor in KPE’s SOAR program; Sandra Carnegie-Douglas, anti-racism and cultural diversity officer at U of T; Simon Darnell, assistant professor at KPE and task force co-chair; Debra Kriger, a graduate student at KPE; and John Leung, an undergraduate student at New College.

The working groups are expected to deliver their recommendations to the task force in June, so the final report can be ready in late summer or early fall.

Dancers in regalia join the SOAR program for an afternoon of traditional drumming and dance (photo by Lynda Li)

Tackling issues of race and diversity in an environment that’s as complex and multi-dimensional as U of T is no easy task, says Jacobs. “It will require a range of strategies, and we’re looking for some wonderfully creative suggestions on how to do that.”

“We are grateful to have this opportunity to improve our programming to better reflect the racial and cultural diversity of our campus community, in particular our current and future Indigenous students, faculty and staff,” he says.

Truth and Reconciliation: Eagles' Longhouse creates a 'Blueprint to Action' for U of T Engineering

hjames — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Truth and Reconciliation: Eagles' Longhouse creates a 'Blueprint to Action' for U of T Engineering

hjames Tue, 01/09/2018 - 00:00

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For Jason Bazylak, an associate professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and member of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, engineering is about community-building (photo by Hannah James)

Hannah James

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Indigenous

Institute for Aerospace Studies

Truth and Reconciliation

Jason Bazylak remembers what it was like to be an Indigenous student arriving at university to study engineering.

"My first year was particularly rough on me,” he recalls.

He struggled to keep up academically. He had good grades in high school but the demands of his engineering program were something else entirely.

Most of all, he and his brother were the first in his family to attend university and there were few supports or mentors to help him. “I didn’t know any engineers, not a single one,” he says.

Today Bazylak, a member of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, is an associate professor, teaching stream, in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and a recipient of the Hart Teaching Innovation Professorship for his research on identifying barriers for Indigenous students entering the field.

Along with Wendy Mortimer, director of Engineering Pathways and Indigenous Partnerships, Bazylak is a co-chair of the Eagles’ Longhouse, a new committee working on a blueprint to improve U of T Engineering’s relationship with Indigenous peoples. The name draws on the symbols of both the majestic bird messenger of wisdom and the place of community and learning.

Left to right: Professor Jason Bazylak, Dean Cristina Amon and Elder Kim Running Bear McDougall at a reception following a smudging ceremony for the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering’s newest building (photo by Roberta Baker)

“We want to change the culture of engineering to be welcoming of Indigenous faculty, staff and students,” says Bazylak.

The Eagles’ Longhouse was formed in response to U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation steering committee, which early last year year released a final report with 34 calls to action for the university. Dean Cristina Amon of U of T Engineering took up the charge and tasked staff and faculty members including Bazylak – her adviser on Indigenous initiatives – with creating a "Blueprint to Action," with ideas on how Engineering can address the calls to action.

The Eagles’ Longhouse plans to deliver that blueprint early this year.

The committee will focus on four key areas: adding Indigenous spaces, including more Indigenous curriculum, hiring more Indigenous faculty and staff, and improving access for Indigenous students. The committee is made up of Indigenous Elders, faculty members and staff. Oneida Nation Elder Kim Running Bear McDougall is on the committee, as is Erin Bobicki, assistant professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, and Joan DaCosta, manager, Director’s Office, University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Bazylak says that coming up with effective solutions is not clearcut and that the Eagles' Longhouse is being careful to keep in mind the great diversity in Indigenous experiences and perspectives. “There’s the Métis student raised on Bloor Street in Toronto, there is the First Nations student who grew up in a remote reserve, there is the Inuit student who grew up north of the Arctic Circle,” he says. “To say we can come up with one method that’s going to support all these Indigenous people in their journey to come to U of T is not feasible.”

Bazylak says Engineering needs a plan that can be flexible enough to meet the individual and unique needs of each Indigenous student.

The Eagles’ Longhouse has smaller, specialized working groups who are consulting with external experts and Indigenous partners to come up with ideas for how to better address such diverse student needs, from not having all the required courses to coming from a remote location and being a mature student with a family.

Opening up and expanding opportunities for Indigenous students to enter engineering is something Bazylak says is essential to expanding the field and creating solutions to contemporary problems facing Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Canada and beyond. “For me, being an engineer is about community building," he says.

Decolonizing the museum: U of T graduate student looks at ways of honouring Indigenous artifacts

hjames — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Decolonizing the museum: U of T graduate student looks at ways of honouring Indigenous artifacts

hjames Fri, 12/08/2017 - 00:00

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From left: Elder Willie Wilson, Elder Shishigo, Audrey Rochette and her son Elijah at Rainy River. Rochette says learning from Elders in Rainy River First Nation helped invigorate her research on decolonizing museums (photos courtesy of Audrey Rochette)

Hannah James

Topic

City & Culture

Faculty of Arts & Science

Graduate Students

Humanities

Indigenous

Museums with Indigenous ancestral objects on display should consider how they’re teaching the public about those artifacts and the people who once used them, says Audrey Rochette, a University of Toronto graduate student whose research focuses on museums and colonization.

“We’re people that come from a rich history of oratory," says Rochette (pictured left), a master’s student in the department for the study of religion in the Faculty of Arts & Science and a member of Whitesand First Nation. "And when you go to museums, you look at things and there’s nobody there to tell you these fantastic stories about them.”

As a docent at the Royal Ontario Museum's major Anishinaabeg Art & Power exhibit that ran from June to November, Rochette says she got to share some of those stories. And as she guided visitors through Woodland School paintings, beadwork, bandolier bags and other works of art from the past two centuries, she says she also made observations for her master's research, looking at ways in which the ROM is incorporating Indigenous knowledges and voices into its programming.

Arni Brownstone, the curator of Anishinaabeg: Art & Power, says hiring Indigenous docents like Rochette was just one way the ROM tried to include Indigenous voices in the exhibition. He created the exhibit with Anishinaabe guest curator Saul Williams, a painter and Woodlands School of art member from North Caribou Lake First Nation, and historian Alan Corbiere from M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island.

Brownstone, who has been at the ROM since the 1970s, says the museum has created the Indigenous Advisory Circle, which meets to talk about ways of improving the ROM's relationship to First Peoples, and is hiring Indigenous knowledge resource teachers, curators and staff.

Rochette says she has been invited to sit on the ROM's roundtables about indigenizing its programs.

“They're working towards decolonizing their space and they’re very open to how that looks and how that can be done,” she says.

To ground her research, Rochette says she went looking for a comparative museum model, a place that had Indigenous artifacts exhibited in traditional ways. She found Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre in Rainy River First Nation – an Indigenous-operated historic site that Rochette says teaches Canadians about the rich history of its First Nations communities and burial grounds.

Designated as a national historic site in 1970, Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung – also known as “the Place of the Long Rapids” – sits on the banks of Rainy River, where Indigenous people lived and gathered for thousands of years. It was also a continental trading hub for Ojibway and other First Peoples.

“It’s a magical place and I can’t explain to you enough about how peaceful and how spiritual this place is,” says Rochette.

She took a first trip to introduce herself to the community, wanting to be transparent about what she was trying to achieve by researching their museum.

“You can’t make people talk to you, and say, ‘you’re going to share all the stuff.’ That’s not the way it works in Indigenous communities and as a native person I know that,” says Rochette. “I had to be there and build trust and let them know about my heart and my intentions.”

Hart House's Human Library challenges visitors to not judge a book by its cover

hjames — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Hart House's Human Library challenges visitors to not judge a book by its cover

hjames Fri, 12/01/2017 - 00:00

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Sandra Whiting, a longtime arts and events organizer, says she's ready to share her stories of community building, struggles and triumphs. "You don't go there to be safe and not have a voice," she says (photo by Dennis St. George)

Topic

People with questions about community -- what it means to be part of one, or excluded from one – had an opportunity this week to hear a diverse range of perspectives at a "Human Library" at the University of Toronto.

The sixth annual event held by Hart House included 14 “books” – or "human stories," as event organizers prefer to call them – for 20-minute conversations with the public.

People from various backgrounds, communities, races, sexualities, religions and ages made up the human stories on loan Thursday, part of the Deconstructing Communit(ies); Intersecting Identities event.

“It’s an opportunity for us to listen,” says Trish Starling, community engagement facilitator at Hart House who helped organize the event. “It’s an empathy-building exercise as a way to listen and to understand others in a way we can better support each other as we co-exist in Toronto.”

The Human Library concept got its start at Denmark’s massive Roskilde music festival in 2000 as a way to challenge people’s prejudices. Concert goers were asked what prejudices they had and then were partnered up with a human book. The phenomenon caught on, with human libraries having become a popular tool to link different types of people to share stories and knowledge.

Seán Kinsella, co-ordinator of residential transition programs at U of T Mississauga's Student Life & Housing, returned this year with his human story entitled, “How to avoid doing the splits while traveling down a rainbow-coloured river with your feet in two canoes. (Hint: It’s not easy.)”

Kinsella says he identifies with several communities, including Cree, Anishinaabe and Métis Nations, and the wider Indigenous community, the Irish diaspora and 2Spirit.

Other speakers and topics on loan at the Hart House Human Library included: Naeema Hassan, The Battle of Choosing Sides Between My Blackness and My Spirituality; Sapphire Woods, So This Is Why I Talk To Plants; Mike Ormsby, On Being "Ojibberish"; Kate Welsh, Queer CRIP (Queer Community Resistance Intimacy Project); Rudrapriya Rathore, How to Celebrate Dusshera, or a Guide To Being a Rajput Girl; Bidhan Berma, The Last Train East; Elvia Maria Peñate, I’m Not from Here Ni De Allá, My Story of Being a Mestiza, Latinx Queer Woman; Arij Elmi, The Tender-Hearted Badass; Sharine Taylor, home: beyond and between borders; Sandra Whiting, Quitting is Never an Option; Jennifer Hollett, Wait, don’t slam the door on my face; Mitchell George, For Our Generations To Come – Ceremony Saved My Life; and La Toya Dennie, Toya from the block.

Storyteller Sandra Whiting (right) with Lydia Li, a Student Life officer, at Hart House on Thursday. Says Whiting: “Without stories, how would we know who we are?” (photo by Trish Starling)

Sandra Whiting, who grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, says she's always been known among family and friends as a natural storyteller. For most of her life though, her storytelling focused on African and Caribbean folk tales. Now, she says, she is turning to a very intimate source of stories.

“Now I want to tell my stories. I want to talk. I’m shedding like a caterpillar, coming out as a different Sandra who now wants to speak about my experiences.

“Without stories, how would we know who we are?”

She admits it hasn't been easy as an African Canadian woman getting her voice and ideas heard, but that has never stopped her from speaking up. “You don't go there to be safe and not have a voice,” she says.

Kinsella says the Human Library is special because it allows the public to get exposed to voices and perspectives that might differ from their own. “I like to take any opportunities I can to signal boost the work of incredible folks who are Black, Indigenous or the member of a community of colour – especially the voices of girls, women, and 2-spirit folks – whose voices are not necessarily part of the mainstream conversation."

The landscape of reconciliation: Chris Grosset reflects on nearly 20 years of working in Indigenous communities

hjames — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The landscape of reconciliation: Chris Grosset reflects on nearly 20 years of working in Indigenous communities

hjames Thu, 11/30/2017 - 00:00

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Chris Grosset and a colleague planning Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park in Iqaluit (photo by Naomi Ratte)

Topic

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

landscape architecture

Indigenous hunters, elders, and a women’s sewing circle: They are some of the non-academic teachers that Chris Grosset says have transformed his landscape architecture practice.

“Learning on the job, learning in the field, learning in people’s homes has changed my approach,” says Grosset, a U of T alumnus who has worked in Indigenous communities for nearly 20 years. “Skills I needed to do this work have evolved over time. They’re not something I learned in school.”

Grosset, a partner and senior consultant at the Indigenous firm NVision Insight Group Inc., will share his experiences in a lecture tonight at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. His talk, “The Path. The Mountain. The Journey: Landscape architecture, learning and reconciliation” is part of the faculty’s “What Is A School?” lecture series, which explores the changing nature of the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, art and urbanism, as well as evolving pedagogies in these areas.

Chris Grosset has spent nearly 20 years working in Indigenous communities throughout Canada (photo courtesy of Chris Grosset)

“It is important for the field of landscape architecture to self-reflect on our changing role as design consultants,” explains Liat Margolis, an associate professor and director of the master of landscape architecture program. “Chris’s talk will purposefully not talk about projects but instead talk about his journey of unlearning and learning as a way of defining truth and reconciliation as it relates to landscape architecture.”

Margolis says bringing Grosset to U of T is part of an ongoing dialogue at Daniels about how to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

Read about TRC at U of T

When Senator Murray Sinclair, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, released the TRC calls to action in June 2015, he said, “We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you the path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing.” Grosset, whose lecture title references Sinclair's symbolic mountain, says he's learned that on the path to reconciliation, it's important to slow down and listen.

As an example, Grosset describes a project he worked on – a public park – that came out of a lengthy consultation with a community in Nunavut that wanted to build a park to commemorate its cultural connection to whales. "They had just completed their first whale hunt in the modern history of their community and so we were able to secure the skull and jawbones of that whale that they had harvested, and that was integrated into the design.”

He says they were also able to get funding to help men in the community who had lost the traditional skills of working with stone. Men on income support were able to work on the project as a part of a training program. They learned to collect the stone and prepare the site, and ultimately they built the park.

“And so the thing is that in that case this is not about the design at all, it doesn’t matter what it looks like. The whole thing is about using the landscape to reconnect and to heal. So that’s what I try to do.”

Grosset recalls that when he completed his master's in landscape architecture at the University of Guelph, he had his heart set on working with heritage gardens: researching historic properties and designing gardens with contemporary art elements. As he was looking for that dream job, he took a trip to Iqaluit to visit some friends.

“When I arrived there … just to see the incredible white landscape, the big beautiful sky, just the vastness of it. It was just such a powerful landscape and I just knew that I wanted to stay there as long as I could."

Grosset’s lecture will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Mediatheque, room 200 at 1 Spadina Crescent. Registration is required.

Philanthropists donate $1 million for Métis, First Nations and Inuit students at U of T's Faculty of Law

hjames — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Philanthropists donate $1 million for Métis, First Nations and Inuit students at U of T's Faculty of Law

hjames Fri, 11/17/2017 - 00:00

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(From left) Norman Loveland, Amanda Carling and Gay Loveland: The Lovelands have donated $1 million for bursaries for Indigenous law students (photo by Nick Wong)

Topic

A $1-million donation from philanthropists Norman and Gay Loveland will be used to finance bursaries for Indigenous law students at the University of Toronto.

Norman Loveland, a former tax lawyer and partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and an alumnus of the Faculty of Law at U of T, told CBC News that he has always thought it important to support educational opportunities for people of all backgrounds and walks of life.

“I think it’s very important that we support Indigenous people in pursuing fields such as education, engineering, and law, so that they will be at the forefront of tackling issues and working with their leaders in their communities,” said Gay Loveland, a retired teacher.

“I think this is a very important part of the reconciliation process.”

Listen to the CBC Metro Morning interview

Read the CBC News story

Amanda Carling, a Métis lawyer and manager of the Indigenous Initiatives Office at U of T's Faculty of Law, told Canadian Laywer magazine that she feels "deep gratitude" for the Lovelands' generosity.

Carling, a U of T law alumna, says there’s a misconception in Canada that all Indigenous people get a free education. “This could not be further from the truth,” she said. “Indigenous students work hard and take on significant debt in order to earn post-secondary degrees. Gay and Norman’s gift will help alleviate some of that financial burden and for some students will help make attending U of T Law a reality.”

Carling runs several initiatives to bolster Indigenous education in law through special speakers and events. She also runs programs to bolster Indigenous participation in legal fields through outreach programs such as the Indigenous Summer Youth Program for high school students.

Read the Faculty of Law story about the donation

“The small number of Indigenous lawyers that exist right now are mighty, but it’s a big fight and it’s exhausting and if we really want to get there we need a critical mass of people,” said Carling in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning.

Loveland, from the Faculty of Law’s Class of 1972, told Metro Morning that studying at U of T was a real “calling card” for him.

He said that he got into the military and saved money to go to U of T, but without the governmental funding sources that were available to him, he's not sure he would have been able to go to university. He said that he hopes his donation will give Indigenous students a leg up.

“I have always felt we should do something meaningful at U of T,” Loveland said. “And the Faculty of Law is making every effort to ensure that anybody who has the capacity and the interest and drive to go to law school will not be precluded for lack of money.”

#UofTGrad17: How Indigenous studies helped Julie Blair connect with her culture

hjames — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 20:00:26 +0000

#UofTGrad17: How Indigenous studies helped Julie Blair connect with her culture

hjames Thu, 11/09/2017 - 15:00

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Julie Blair in the courtyard of Woodsworth College (photo by Hannah James)

Hannah James

Author legacy

Hannah James

Topic

City & Culture

#UofTGrad17

Convocation 2017

Faculty of Arts & Science

Humanities

Indigenous

Woodsworth College

After working in Toronto nightclubs for years, Julie Blair wanted a career change so she came to the University of Toronto.

What she got out of the next five years was more than just a degree – she was able to reconnect with her Indigenous roots.

“Before I came to U of T, I didn’t really know anything about my culture,” says Blair, who is Anishinaabe and Dutch. “There was a lot of stuff I hadn’t been taught.”

She said learning about her Indigenous heritage “was very emotional.”

Today, Blair collected her diploma in Indigenous studies from the Faculty of Arts & Science during U of T's fall convocation. She is the first Indigenous student to receive the Brookfield Peter F. Bronfman Gold Scholarship from Woodsworth College. It's a $12,000 prize awarded to a student who has demonstrated academic excellence and volunteerism in their community. She has also received the President's Award for Outstanding Indigenous Student of the Year.

In her 40s, Blair has led various Indigenous committees and clubs at U of T, and she's worked as the Indigenous Education Network coordinator at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education – all while maintaining a 3.9 grade point average.

“That’s really stunning,” says Cheryl Shook, assistant principal and registrar at U of T's Woodsworth College, who was part of the group that selected Blair for the gold scholarship. “The award is meant to provide somebody, who has shown this much potential, who is so involved, and who has overcome obstacles, an opportunity to take that funding and do even more things with it.”

Julie Blair (right) with OISE dean Glen Jones (left) at fall convocation (photo by Gary Beechey, BDS Studios)

Blair, who is a member of Serpent River First Nation, says she's always done well academically and attributes her success now to finding an area of study she's passionate about. After high school, she did a brief stint at U of T Scarborough, but left to work in the fashion industry for a bridal accessories company. She then worked in the service industry, in restaurants and bars, but eventually wanted to do something else.

At U of T, Blair says she's found a community she can relate to. She recalls her first visit to U of T's First Nations House, which she says brought back an unexpected sensation, a deep-rooted memory passed on from generations before her.

“I remember one day I went in there, and someone was smudging. I hadn’t smudged before that I could recall, but as soon as I smelled the sage burning, it brought back some memory I didn’t even know I had. It smelled so familiar. It smelled like home to me.”

For the Native Students' Association at U of T, she served as a clan leader. She's also been a member of the Indigenous Studies Student Union executive body, helping to organize the university's first major pow wow in 20 years. She's also been a mentor in the Aboriginal Peer Mentorship Program, and is a part of a community-based research team looking into Indigenous mental health, led by Suzanne Stewart, director of Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at U of T.

Outside U of T, Blair has volunteered for the Toronto Cat Rescue, Hot Docs Festival and The Stop's YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) community garden program.

Blair's studies won't end with her bachelor's degree. She's already begun classes at U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work in a master's program. She'll be focusing on Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency and hopes to one day work in mental health and addictions in Toronto.

Indigenous star lore: Night skies over Turtle Island

hjames — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 21:50:03 +0000

Indigenous star lore: Night skies over Turtle Island

hjames Wed, 11/08/2017 - 16:50

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The Ojibwe sky star map, also known as the 'Ojibwe giizhig anung masinaaigan' was a native skywatchers map created by A. Lee, W. Wilson, C. Gawboy (image courtesy of A. Lee, W. Wilson and C. Gawboy)

Hannah James

Topic

City & Culture

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Humanities

Indigenous

Truth and Reconciliation

In the Indigenous legend about the constellation Orion, two sets of brothers – the first representing the cold wind, and the second symbolizing the Chinook or warm wind – are in a race toward a single star.

There's a big wrestling match, and the brothers of the Chinook wind appear to be winning.

Frank Dempsy, an astronomy enthusiast and member of the Royal Astronomical Society, shared this Indigenous star story from the Pacific Northwest at the University of Toronto last week. He was joined by U of T's Hilding Neilson, an associate professor at Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Karyn Recollet, an associate professor of women and gender studies, in a panel discussion called Night Skies Over Turtle Island: Indigenous Astronomy. The panel was moderated by Renée Hložek, an assistant professor of astrophysics at U of T's Faculty of Arts & Science and a TED senior fellow.

The event was part of the AstroTours series, organized by Dana Simard, Deborah Lokhorst and other graduate student volunteers in the Faculty of Arts & Science's department of astronomy and astrophysics, exploring everything from pulsars to supernovas. This month, AstroTours teamed up with Indigenous Education Week to create an event featuring Indigenous perspectives on astronomy and star lore.

Dempsy, a member of the Dokis First Nation in Ontario, said he's been studying Indigenous astronomy since he was a young boy learning from Elders and Ojibwe family members. He said the Indigenous stories he learned differed from the Greek and Roman legends found in astronomy textbooks. He said he also noticed that legends are very regional, often reflecting the plants, animals and environment.

“There are variations on the same legends, from the same language group, across regions with different climate and geography,” he said.

Left to right: Renée Hložek, Karyn Recollet, Hilding Neilson and Frank Dempsey came together to discuss Indigenous knowledge and star lore (photo by Anna O'Grady)

Neilson, who helped organize the event, is a member of the Qalipu band and grew up on the west coast of Newfoundland. He studies stellar astrophysics and the evolution of massive stars from the nuclear-burning centres to their surface and winds. He said he's been using astronomy as a way to learn about his own Indigenous past.

With Indigenous people working to preserve knowledge that was lost or eroded as a result of colonialism, Indigenous lore around astronomy should not be treated as “something cute” – legends and mythology – but as knowledge equal to western science, Neilson said.

He is now applying this idea to the classes he teaches at U of T.

“You use western science and Indigenous science to gain greater insight in combination, and so I'm hoping we can use this to have students question the axioms of western science and think more broadly and deeper about natural phenomenon,” he said.

Recollet said Elders likely took guidance from the stars and looked to the night sky for lessons about how to interact with one another. She said she wanted to know more about things like dark matter and said, “How does dark matter gravitationally pull bodies together? I think if we had that language, we could really transform this world and jump scale.”

Neilson said that he's already begun working with faculty members from the Centre for Indigenous Studies, Elders and knowledge keepers to begin talking about ways of promoting Indigenous knowledges in astronomy. He said he's also hoping to spend some time with Elders on the east coast to see if he can start to put some of the star knowledge out into the public domain and incorporate them into planetarium exhibits.

“We're sitting here in Toronto where at least three nations lived at various times,” he said. “Everybody used the night sky and had knowledge of the night sky, so I try to take whatever I can from knowledges from Indigenous peoples that's freely available and expose students to it. I try to get them to look at science more holistically.”

#UofTGrad17: Murray Sinclair, chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, receives honorary degree

hjames — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

#UofTGrad17: Murray Sinclair, chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, receives honorary degree

hjames Mon, 11/06/2017 - 00:00

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Senator Murray Sinclair, who was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, speaks to the graduating class on Monday (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Topic

Truth and Reconciliation

University of Toronto Scarborough

Senator Murray Sinclair, the former chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has been awarded an honorary degree from the University of Toronto for his outstanding service to Canada as a lifelong advocate for Indigenous people.

As the head of the TRC, Sinclair travelled across Canada, participated in hundreds of emotionally charged hearings and gathered oral and written statements and testimonies from approximately 12,000 Indigenous people affected by Canada's system of Indian residential schools. Many survivors of the schools were speaking about their experience for the first time.

“I think Murray Sinclair is probably one of the bravest and strongest persons who has ever lived,” says Douglas Sanderson, associate professor in the Faculty of Law.

“Running a commission like that is monumental, just in terms of the administration of it,” says Sanderson, who is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

“Senator Sinclair had to listen and read about it, and these are stories of such incredible and appalling abuse day after day for years to absorb that all and be able to press on and be sincere and kind and generous. That is such an amazing gift of humanity that very few people could do.”

The TRC’s work culminated in a five-volume final report that Sanderson calls “substantial, honest and thoughtful.” The report contained 94 “calls to action” for the Canadian government and Canadians to respond to in order to move towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Senator Murray Sinclair (centre) poses with U of T Scarborough Principal Bruce Kidd (right) while U of T President Meric Gertler takes a picture at the convocation ceremony (photo by Laura Pedersen)

"Reconciliation is about atonement. It's about making amends. It's about apology. It's about recognizing responsibility. It's about accounting for what has gone on," said Sinclair in a speech earlier this year to the Canada School of Public Service. "But ultimately it's about commitment to maintaining that mutually respectful relationship throughout, recognizing that, even when you establish it, there will be challenges to it."

Sinclair – whose Ojibway name Mizanay Gheezhik means “the one who speaks of pictures in the sky” – grew up near Selkirk, Man. After his mother died when he was just a baby, he was raised by his kokum (grandmother).

Senator Murray Sinclair's work as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has had an impact on U of T (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

In an interview in Maclean's, Sinclair said members of his family went to residential schools and distrusted the schools as a result. In spite of this, he said his family instilled in him an “obligation to get an education and to do something with it.”

Read the Maclean's interview with Senator Sinclair

And that is exactly what he did.

Sinclair graduated as his high school's valedictorian and athlete of the year in 1968. He earned a degree in sociology at the University of Winnipeg in 1975. He studied law at the University of Manitoba and was called to the Manitoba bar in 1980.

Sinclair has served the justice system in Manitoba for more than 25 years. He was the first Aboriginal judge appointed in Manitoba, and the second in Canada. He served as co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba before being appointed as chief commissioner for the TRC.

(From left): U of T Scarborough’s Indigenous Elder Wendy Phillips, Senator Murray Sinclair, U of T Chancellor Michael Wilson and U of T President Meric Gertler (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Sinclair worked on the TRC from June 2009 until its completion in December 2015.

He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in March 2016 and recently, following the deaths of several Indigenous youths in Thunder Bay, was appointed by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) as the independent investigator to look into the Thunder Bay Police Services Board.

Sinclair's work has had an impact at the U of T as well. President Meric Gertler and Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr established a TRC steering committee in early 2016. After much deliberation and many discussions, the committee released its final report, Wecheehetowin, with 34 calls to action for the university to work towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Faculties, departments and individuals have started to work on ways they can change their practices and spaces and create a more inclusive environment for Indigenous peoples, cultures and knowledges.

U of T President Meric Gertler (left) and U of T Scarborough Principal Bruce Kidd (right) take part in Monday's convocation ceremony (photo by Laura Pedersen)

Andrew Wesley, an Elder-in-Residence at U of T who advised the university's TRC steering committee in its deliberations and presented the final report to Gertler and Regehr at an entrustment ceremony in January, was present when Sinclair was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

U of T Scarborough’s Indigenous Elder Wendy Phillips gave Sinclair an Eagle feather, and an honour song was performed by the Red Hawk Singers.

Sanderson was also present with a hand drum, which he sounded at various moments as a way to celebrate and honour Sinclair for his work in changing the dialogue about Indigenous peoples, cultures and knowledges in Canada.

“The work of the Truth and Reconciliation commission set the stage for the possibility of long-term change,” says Sanderson. “And it’s up to institutions like the university to embrace conceptual change and not just ticking the box because that’s just one step in a very long journey of change.”

Read about Truth and Reconciliation at U of T

Michael White joins U of T as special projects officer to support the university's Truth and Reconciliation efforts

hjames — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 04:00:00 +0000

Michael White joins U of T as special projects officer to support the university's Truth and Reconciliation efforts

hjames Wed, 11/01/2017 - 00:00

Cutline

Michael White in front of Simcoe Hall, where his office for the newly created role of special projects officer, Indigenous initiatives is located (photo by Hannah James)

Hannah James

Topic

Our Community

Indigenous

Truth and Reconciliation

When Michael White saw that the University of Toronto, his alma mater, was becoming actively engaged in the work of reconciliation through its own Truth and Reconciliation calls to action, he wanted to be a part of it.

And now he is.

Michael, who asked that he be referred to by his first name, has joined U of T in the newly created role of special projects officer, Indigenous initiatives.

"It’s now a very different climate to be Indigenous in this space,” says Michael, who graduated from U of T in 2005 with a BA in anthropology. He says the university is more receptive now to Indigenous perspectives and methodologies.

Reporting to Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, director of Indigenous initiatives at U of T, Michael will play a key role in consulting and implementing projects that support the university’s efforts to enhance Indigenous presence and programming.

He comes to the role with a wealth of experience designing training programs for employers, teaching community-building, and planning events. For the past five years, Michael – a band member of M’Chigeeng First Nation – worked as a trainer for the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, travelling around the province working with organizations and institutions to help them answer TRC calls to action, and delivering courses around Indigenous community development.

“I have seen Indigenous issues at a larger scale, and it prevents me from having a narrow perspective being an urban Indigenous person,” says Michael, who has spent most of his life living in Toronto.

Michael says he's thrilled to return to U of T, and to spend more time closer to home with his young family. He is also pursuing a master’s degree in education, language, culture and teaching at York University.

Left to right: U of T students James Bird and Roy Strebel with Michael White at the Elders' Symposium at U of T on Oct. 30 (photo by Hannah James)

"He's very giving of all the gifts and skills he has to offer," says Hamilton-Diabo, who worked with Michael at First Nations House after Michael graduated. "He's also got a very vibrant personality and has a lot of knowledge of U of T from his time here as a student and working in different areas of the university."

The two men are already working on a university-wide strategy to help people at U of T connect with appropriate resources as efforts to respond to TRC calls to action continue.

“The big thing that led me back is Jonathan," says Michael. “He’s a peacemaker and for me professionally, I’m going to learn a lot. I’m hoping we can walk together for a bit.”

In his short time at U of T, Michael has already organized a major Elders' symposium in October where Elders from various communities came to share traditional knowledges about land, language and "ways of being and doing" with the U of T community, and he is working on cultural competency programs for U of T's faculties and departments.

“The way I see it, it is Indigenous spaces, Indigenous places and the processes that are informing how the university does what it does,” says Michael.