Indigenous Students Pathways Symposium

Honouring Indigenous Knowledges: 
Creating Pathways Through Art and Design Education

OCAD University was honoured to host an opportunity for conversation and community building on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at a symposium, Honouring Indigenous Knowledges: Creating Pathways Through Art and Design Education.

The symposium was the culmination and a celebration of a two-year Indigenous Students Pathways Project funded by the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer to support the development of a framework for enhancing the access and mobility of Indigenous learners into postsecondary art and design education.

The research team included OCAD U’s Caroline Langill, Deanne Fisher, Ryan Rice, Susan Ferguson, Cary DiPietro and Nadia McLaren, as well as external advisor to the project, S. Brenda Small of Confederation College.

The project benefited greatly from the knowledge and experience of an Advisory Committee, OCAD U Indigenous faculty and staff, Indigenous community Elders, Knowledge Keepers and leaders who all generously shared their time, guiding the work in meaningful ways.

One of the results of this community collaboration was the development of OCAD U’s Indigenous Learning Outcomes (ILOs) which will guide the learning of the institution and the learning of OCAD U’s students. Within the context of the framework, these ILOs will also be used as a set of principles to assess the readiness of other postsecondary institutions to bring in, support and enhance the experiences of Indigenous learners. (To learn more about OCAD U's ILOs, visit the Indigenous Learning Outcomes page.)

The Indigenous Students Pathways project contributes to and advances the deeply important work of OCAD U’s Academic Plan: Transforming Student Experience, 2017-2022, specifically the principle of decolonization, seeking to ensure “the multiplicity of histories and perspectives of racialized and Indigenous students, faculty and staff are recognized and affirmed in their experiences at the institution” (Principle 1), and goals under the first Priority for Indigenous Learning that commit the university to realizing Universities Canada’s 13 Principles on Indigenous Education.

This is just one step in an ongoing transformation. Elder Ralph Johnson blessed these steps and the direction OCAD U is heading in a closing ceremony.

The entire project has been a rich and shared learning, a theme carried throughout the symposium.