Over the past two years the Union actively advocated for an Indigenous education requirement at TRU. Following a review of an online resource that serves to provide students with an understanding of Indigenous history in Canada, the Union submitted a request to the Qelmúcw Affairs Committee of Senate to develop and establish a credited Indigenous Certificate available for our campus community.

While British Columbia’s K-12 curriculum includes base education on Indigenous knowledge, many students coming to TRU from outside of this province will not have received this education. Without a mandate at the university level, graduates from any program can enter our society without a basic knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

In the previous year, TRUSU members partnered with the TRU Library and the Office of Indigenous Education to consider the Four Seasons of Reconciliation, an online learning resource developed by First Nations University of Canada. The students who were involved in the process provided feedback on the tool and underlined the importance of making the same educational material available to all TRU staff and students.

As other Canadian institutions of learning make the shift towards integrating Indigenous course requirements, we believe TRU should be at the forefront of making Indigenous education a core part of our campus learning environment.

We have urged the TRU Qelmúcw Affairs Committee to take action by establishing an Indigenous Education Certificate based on the Four Seasons of Reconciliation resource. We believe that providing credited learning opportunities will support both the calls for Truth and Reconciliation and the institutional learning outcomes of TRU.

If you are interested in reading our letter of submission, click below.

To learn more about other Student Voices activities your representatives have been engaging in on your behalf, click here!