pipe ceremony and face painting for students 

 thurs. sept. 22

 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

transalta amphitheatre

centennial garden (t-wing courtyard)

 steve kootenay-jobin, Indigenous housing and events coordinator, iniskim centre

mru will light up the campus in orange to commemorate orange shirt day.

 thurs. sept. 22 – tues. oct. 4

 dusk

charlton pond, recreation pool, various lights around campus, east gate and t-wing courtyard tipis

 grant sommerfeld, associate vice-president, facilities management

every child matters orange t-shirts are available for purchase at the cougars campus store. this year's orange t-shirts were purchased by snake snitch, an Indigenous-owned and operated siksika nation business.

sold for $29.95; to cover the cost, $15 goes directly to the barn to care for and maintain the white buffalo, $3.76 will cover overhead costs, as well, depending on the shirt purchased, $11.20 of the proceeds will go directly to the mru Indigenous students emergency fund.

launched in 2013, orange shirt day was inspired by phyllis's story. its goal is to educate people about residential schools in canada, learn the truth from survivors and honour the loss of first nation, inuit and métis children who never made it home.

 thurs. aept. 29 and fri. sept. 30

 all day

orange shirts will be displayed around campus to represent MRU's commitment to reconciliation visually.

 thurs. sept. 29 – mon. oct. 3

 all day

every child matters buttons will be available at various locations around campus for students, faculty, staff and the community to pick up. wear a button to honour residential school survivors and the children that never made it home.

 thurs. sept. 29

 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

 east gate, main street, west gate and recreation entrances, first-floor riddell library and learning centre, iniskim centre, office of Indigenization and decolonization, samru reception. 

susan garrow-oliver, associate professor, faculty of health, community and education

wear an orange shirt and join mru leadership, faculty, staff and students as they march from east gate entrance to centennial garden (t-wing courtyard) to honour residential school survivors and commemorate the children who never made it home.

 thurs. sept. 29

 Noon – 12:15 p.m.

start at east gate courtyard

 steve kootenay-jobin, Indigenous housing and events coordinator, iniskim centre

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

following the every child matters march, mount royal will acknowledge the importance of the national day of truth and reconciliation. hear from elders and mru senior leadership.

 thurs. sept. 29

 12:15 – 12:30 p.m.

UPDATE main street (between cougars campus store and tim hortons)

 steve kootenay-jobin, Indigenous housing and events coordinator, iniskim centre

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

stop by the iniskim centre, office of Indigenization and decolonization or samru's cultural inclusion centre for an orange cupcake.

 thurs. sept. 29

 12:30 – 1 p.m.

 iniskim centre (T110)

office of Indigenization and decolonization (T123)

 cultural inclusion centre, wyckham house (Z203)

 steve kootenay-jobin, Indigenous housing and events coordinator, iniskim centre

linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

 cory cardinal, cultural inclusion programmer, students association of mount royal university

everyone is encouraged to wear red clothes showing support to the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit.

 tues. oct. 4

 all day

inspired by métis artist, jaime black's redress project, mru will display red dresses around campus to show support for the lives of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit.

 tues. oct. 4

 all day

all are welcome to participate in the sisters in spirit vigil and march* held in downtown Calgary.

*this is a community-led initiative; mru has no direct affiliation with this initiative. search online for more detailed information.

 tues. oct. 4

 10 a.m. – noon

downtown calgary

dr. jebunnessa chapola
women's, gender and sexualities studies
faculty of arts

this phd dissertation tells the story of my racialized settler woman’s transformative journey toward reconciliation and mutual empowerment through the community in canada. the dissertation discusses how Indigenous Land-based learning became healing and empowering for me as a newly arrived settler woman of a colour, learning about my positioning on the stolen Indigenous. lands of treaty six territory. it recounts the journey of migrating from one colonial land to another, building a family and new community networks, and learning about Indigenous histories, cultures, land-based learning, and about diverse newcomer settler communities in saskatoon, canada. the dissertation discusses how collaborative learning has supported taking responsibility for understanding the meaning of land in solidarity with Indigenous and newcomer communities through involvement in a community garden project, community radio show, and various cultural community activities. using decolonial feminist relational autoethnography as my research methodology, this dissertation discusses my quest to challenge everyday racisms and colonial practices ingrained in the daily lives of newcomer canadians. following 12 years of community activities in treaty 6 and 7 territories, this research emphasizes a key lesson from this life journey: the need to be responsible for understanding the Indigenous meaning of land in order to create belongingness with the land and its original peoples, while resisting the assimilationist forces impacting Indigenous and newcomer communities through their unique histories, despite the orchestrated biases operating through colonialist structures. the author concludes with the hope that the analysis of decolonial, collaborative learning stories and connections with the land may help other non-Indigenous communities build meaningful relationships with the land and Indigenous communities.

 presention material

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

maxime lamoureux-st-hilaire
anthropology
faculty of arts

there are many problems with peer-reviewed literature, with its accessibility (or lack thereof) acting as a conduit for most of those issues. in this presentation, i explore how i strive to craft a more accessible journal — the mayanist — to decolonize anthropological and archaeological literature on contemporary and ancient maya peoples. this effort takes multiple forms. 

first and foremost, the journal is bilingual (english and spanish) and open-access, which greatly facilitates its access to latin american readers. 

second, it is entirely free to publish in the journal, allowing younger and/or unaffiliated scholars to disseminate their research in open-access format. the mayanist is also beautifully illustrated and relatively jargon free in an effort to reach a broader audience. in addition, the journal purposefully makes room for latin american and Indigenous maya scholars and artists. 

finally, the journal's peer-review process is designed to be caring and supportive. as a journal published by a nonprofit (american foreign academic research), there are limits to what we've managed to achieve. yet, our early progress and success with our first seven issues is promising, and hopefully just the beginning.

presentation material

the mayanist 

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

simon habegger
alberta health services

how my community health promotion program began developing a cree resource, the rationale for the resource, and the bureaucratic challenges that had to be surmounted.

our expansion of the initiative to include blackfoot, denesuline, and stoney nakota resources.

the challenges that organizations face when developing such materials, and some recommendations for how to facilitate them: - financial - budgetary - technical - bureaucratic

the benefits and limitations of these materials within the broader canadian context.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

susan garrow-oliver and espoom tah roy bear chief
child studies and social work
faculty of health, community and education

faculty and staff in the department of child studies and social work have embarked on individual and collective journeys toward decolonizing our minds, hearts and approaches to teaching and learning. part of this work comes from looking inward, what we are willing to do, and how our actions contribute to the larger whole. led by espoom tah and blackfoot elder roy bear chief we reflected on our commitments to action and developed the foundation for building a strong tipi. using blackfoot teachings and collective mind a beautiful symbol of our commitment was unveiled this fall to start our new academic year in a good way. join us to hear about how we worked together on this journey and the work that will continue as we move forward.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

carol armstrong
biology
faculty of science and technology

this august (2022) i ran the inaugural session of 'harley's course' (biol3201: common ground — learning from the land). my colleague alexandria farmer and i took 18 third-year biology students on a field course to buffalo rock tipi camp to explore the common ground between western science and Indigenous ways of knowing. the planning for this course started in november 2018 and was a group effort (khatija westbrook, charles hepler, dorothy hill and of course, harley bastien — piikani knowledge keeper).

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

ranjan datta
decolonial research
faculty of arts

how does one decolonize and reclaim the meanings of research, particularly in the context of Indigenous and racialized community-based research? Indigenous and racialized communities have long experienced misrepresentation by western forms of research. is it possible to build collaborative and meaningful research knowledge that is culturally appropriate, respectful, honouring, and careful of the Indigenous and racialized communities? what are the challenges in western research, researchers, and western university methodology research training? how can our responsibilities benefit both our research communities and us as a researcher?

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

travis hay
Indigenous studies
faculty of arts

this presentation offers a historical and fact-based review of the architects of the residential school system. though it will be based on a similar talk i gave last year during journey to Indigenization, it will also include more western canadian references and histories (i.e., the role of hector louis langevin in the residential school system and the politics of changing place-names in the city of calgary).

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

alfred youngman
humanities
faculty of arts

a broad examination of how the art and culture of first nations and native americans impact mainstream western ideology in the era of reconciliation and constructing new realities. It is no exaggeration to claim current expressions such as "critical race theory," "structural racism," "systemic racism," and other common refrains are products of what happened in indigenous communities and Indigenous studies (previously known as native american studies) before the new millennia. the deconstruction, reconstruction and decolonization of Indigenous education and history have been happening for over four decades, beginning with the first native american studies departments founded at trent university and the university of lethbridge in the early to mid-1970s where academia had no choice but to reckon with the native perspective. research in the field of first nations/native american art history and theory and its subsequent publications had, what some would say, an unfortunate colonial beginning with anthropology playing the dominant role in the previous century and more. gradually native academics in the nas field begin to play a more significant part in determining the path of mainstream education and how western society views the indigenous of north america, from music to art, to writing, to film to politics. this presentation will emphasize the native perspective as the primary vehicle by which indigenous peoples will chart their road forward, a new direction that native art and theory claim is unique to its history and territories.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

jamie waucaush-warn
humanities
faculty of arts

waucaush-warn shares her own personal journey of decolonization through her own artistic practice that examines story, land, and tobacco. this journey is shared through her own families experience of “survivance” through acts of labour working in tobacco fields after the residential school system that took many of their stories away. the journey to bring these stories to her larger audience is what waucaush-warn is passionate about as they have served to inform the role her family and other Indigenous people have had in the shaping of canada as we know it.  

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

michele holmgren
english, languages, and cultures
faculty of arts

while the Irish-born conservative politician nicholas flood davin is now most known for the davin report, he saw himself primarily as a promoter of intellectual and cultural progress in canada. through his speeches, journalism, literary criticism, and poetry, he defended the cultural contributions of Irish emigrants and advocated for irish home rule, citing canada's successful model. however, he saw the settling of the canadian west as essential to canadian nationalism and irish peace. ironically, he continually used his rhetorical and political skills to argue for the forced dispossession and assimilation of first nations and métis peoples. his views that political leaders should guide, shape, and influence education and culture were explicitly linked to the expansion of british imperialism in canada. this presentation will provide a close reading of davin's eos: an epic of the dawn as an illustration of how intellectual work and education can be employed as an active tool of colonization. his writing anticipates current debates about who determines what is taught and studied, and is still relevant today.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

marcia mckay
child studies and social work
faculty of health, community and education

this study is aimed to examine the paradox of professional social work practice and personal urgency to answer the truth and reconciliation 94 calls to action, in relation to my experience as a postsecondary instructor and trauma-informed practitioner. my recent observations as a university instructor of post-secondary social work students have indicated that students appear hesitant and inconsistent with offering land acknowledgments on their first introductions in the classroom with their peers.

another aspect that will be considered with this phenomenon is the tensions that continue to exist between the truth and reconciliation commission, and the overhaul of educational systems to implement the 94 calls to action. This new way of approaching education has been challenging for systems as they continue to navigate the indigenous alliance with social work and implement change (acsw, 2019).

this study will further emphasize the call to action #65 from the truth and reconciliation commission states that “there is a need to advance the understanding of reconciliation.” this proposal will advance the understanding of reconciliation through the exploration of social work students in post secondary educational systems engagement with land acknowledgments.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

nancy espetveidt
child studies and social work
faculty of health, community and education

i would like to present children's picturebooks that i have chosen to share. i enjoy problemetizing the linear story structure colonized minds have come to expect by presenting wordless picturebooks, books with circular story structure, and books with Indigenous authorship/artistry.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

amanda williams and richard erlendson
school of communication studies
faculty of business and communications studies

this presentation shares the unveiling of the Indigenous women in business visual exhibition that was celebrated last spring. in this project mount royal university's (mru) school of communication studies, wekh-alberta, and alberta women entrepreneurs partnered to have a senior class of mru journalism and digital media students create a visual gallery of Indigenous women in business. this project was designed to widen the broader public's exposure to the dynamic Indigenous women entrepreneurs who make up the alberta business world. the dynamics of the partnership will be shared as well as the visual gallery.  

 presentation material

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

collette lemieux and nikita kahpeaysewat
bissett school of business  |  4th-year bachelor of science — environmental science student
faculty of business and communications studies  |  faculty of science and technology

we will begin by discussing what brought us to the project and why we believe it is important. then we will describe the evolution of the project and where we are now. finally, we will discuss some of the challenges we've experienced and how we've overcome them (if possible). we will then invite a discussion.

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

andrea kennedy and grandmother doreen spence
school of nursing and midwifery
faculty of health, community and education

we will share the process of developing a decolonial nursing program philosophical framework. following cultural protocol, we asked two highly respected local Indigenous knowledge holders and retired nurses to serve as presiding elders for the bachelor of nursing (bn) curriculum redesign committee. select committee members engaged with the elders in a series of gatherings. elders gifted ‘all my relations’ as the unifying basis for their teachings of ‘the four realms’ and ‘ani to pisi — spiderweb’ as the new bn program philosophical framework: local Indigenous teachings provide the standpoint for respectfully engaging with interconnected multiple worldviews to advance equity and restore wellness in nursing education. collaboration with elders provides an invaluable opportunity for decolonization in nursing workplaces and learning spaces.

presentation material

• bn philosophical framework
• bn curriculum redesign committee website
• all my relations ppt

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization

gabrielle lindstrom
humanities
faculty of arts

experiences of anti-Indigenous racism have a long history in blackfoot territories. utilizing the blackfoot language to conceptualize and articulate definitions of racism and what it means to be a fully relational, compassionate and respectful human being, kainai has undertaken research that advances an understanding of racism through a lens that is consistent with the lived experiences and lifeways of kainai peoples. this presentation will offer an overview of the research methodology and findings.  

 presentation material

 linda manyguns, associate vice-president, office of Indigenization and decolonization