Every year in June, we encourage York community members to take time to learn about Indigenous Peoples and communities, both present and past, and to celebrate the diversity of Indigenous Peoples.
We honour the resilience, rich history and enormous contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples while also acknowledging that the journey towards decolonization and reconciliation is ongoing. This journey requires consistent action and a conscious commitment to meet our goals.
We acknowledge and celebrate the recent electoral victories of Indigenous people – with the re-election of one Indigenous MPP in Ontario and 12 Indigenous MPs elected to lead in Parliament.
The University’s path toward reconciliation and decolonizing has been marked by many milestones since we hired the first AVP of Indigenous initiatives in 2021. This year we are proud that our Board of Governors approved a Smudging and Pipe Ceremony Policy which will make it easier for members of Indigenous communities to request, perform and participate in these important traditions.
A review of York’s Indigenous Framework was also completed this year. A comprehensive look at six years of action toward reconciliation, it included recommendations for strengthening the Indigenous Council and highlighted the success – a 76 per cent increase – of hiring practices focused on increasing the number of faculty members who identify as Indigenous.
York also expanded its learning support for academics with the addition of the Adjudicating Indigenous Research Excellence (AIRE) e-training module – an important resource to support the success of Indigenous researchers.
As the University continues to focus more on the delivery of medical and health education, we were proud to sign a new relationship agreement with the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC) – a first step towards developing joint initiatives and advancing Indigenous health priorities.
Finally, we were very proud to unveil the new Indigenous sculpture by artist Tania Willard on York’s Glendon Campus this month. It is a beautiful reminder to pause and reflect on the long and proud history of Inuit, Métis and First Nations Peoples and to remind ourselves of the work that we must all collectively continue to do to move closer to reconciliation and decolonizing our institution.
We invite you to visit the Indigenous History Month website to learn about and participate in the events around campus. As always, the Indigenous at York website is an ongoing source of information – including special announcements like later this month, when we welcome our new AVP of Indigenous initiatives.
We are grateful for the opportunities to continue dialogue, raise awareness and take meaningful action.
Thank you. Merci. Miigwech. Anushiik.
Rhonda Lenton
President and Vice-Chancellor
Laina Y. Bay-Cheng
Vice-President Equity, People and Culture
Susan D. Dion
Associate Vice-President Indigenous Initiatives