By: Chloë Arneson, News Writer

On June 20, in honour of National Indigenous Peoples month, SFU Vancouver hosted a virtual seminar to discuss the importance of implementing Indigenous cultural safety in higher education. The Decolonizing Education and Institutionalising Indigenous Cultural Safety workshop was hosted by Len Pierre, who is Coast Salish, and a TEDx speaker.

His presentation acknowledged many of the institutions he works with are eager to race through the process of decolonization without acknowledging the need for cultural safety. Institutions “need to be culturally safer before we get to the places of decolonial work. If we don’t uncover where we can embed cultural safety first, we run the risk of a misinformed work population and the work will ultimately become superficial,” Pierre said. 

Cultural safety involves trauma-informed, community-driven engagement that creates more ethical ways for institutions to engage with Indigenous people and communities by prioritizing Indigenous peoples’ needs. Pierre noted, “Cultural safety is an outcome based on a respectful engagement that recognizes and strives to address power imbalances inherent in western systems [ . . . ] It results in an environment free of racism and discrimination where people feel safe when receiving services.”

According to Pierre, the process of decolonization involves more than the acknowledgement and removal of active harm caused to Indigenous communities. He added Indigenous values and belief systems have the potential to mitigate the social and environmental harms caused by the impacts of colonial systems. “We have a lot to offer,” Pierre said.

The event was open to all SFU staff and faculty, who were encouraged to share their views on the subject matter as well as their personal experiences with Indigenous cultural safety in the workplace. Participants also had the opportunity to talk with one another in breakout rooms, where some discussed the cultural safety improvements they were hoping to see at SFU.

Pierre said the way education systems inherently uphold colonial systems. “We cannot talk about decolonizing the academy or Indigenous cultural safety and humility without talking about colonialism,” he said. 

Pierre cautioned against the belief that anti-Indigenous racism is a result of a series of isolated events, noting that “we socialized Canadian citizens into being anti-Indigenous.” Pierre explained the root cause of anti-Indigenous sentiments in Canada were the racist narratives delivered in public schools when residential schools were actively operating.

The Canadian government has outlined their plan for responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action surrounding education for reconciliation. This includes calling upon governments to “provide the necessary funding to post-secondary institutions to educate teachers on how to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms.” Out of the 94 calls to action, 13 are complete, with around 60 in progress. 

To end the session, Pierre encouraged participants to apply the concepts presented in their lives. He suggested actions such as taking implicit association testing, learning about local land and territories, and implementing Indigenous-focused equity strategies. Addressing many of the participants who hope to improve their allyship and Indigenous advocacy, Pierre said, “We can blow it out of the park if we want to, and we should where the opportunity aligns and our ethics are aligned, and Indigenous people are involved.”

To learn more about cultural safety education, Len Pierre’s TEDx talks are available on the TEDx website.