The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada calls upon those who can effect change within Canadian systems to recognize the value of Indigenous healing practices and to collaborate with Indigenous healers, Elders, and knowledge keepers where requested by Indigenous Peoples. This article presents the Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Theory (ICRT) as a decolonized pathway designed to guide research that continuously improves the health, education, governance, and policies of Indigenous Peoples in Saskatchewan. Decolonizing practices include privileging and engaging in Indigenous philosophies, beliefs, practices, and values that counter colonialism and restore well-being. The ICRT supports the development of collaborative relationships between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous allies who seek to improve the status of First Nations health and wellness.
This commentary offers one story of indigenizing the academy. For me, indigenizing means re-centering Indigenous epistemes, ontologies and methodologies. I agree with Kuokkanen (2007), who says, "Indigenous epistemes have been in the academy for as long as Indigenous people have been attending universities" (p. 108). The problem is that epistemic ignorance prevails in the academy, and our ways of knowing have been marginalized, dismissed and made invisible. This story offers one example of organizational change supportive of achieving greater levels of indigenization in Canadian universities. The use of story here is intended to reposition Indigenous voices in the academy as creative, powerful, emancipatory and transformative.
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