Thank you for the invite today. As the chair said, my name is Dr. Angela Jaime. I'm the vice-provost for indigenous engagement at the University of Saskatchewan.
I'm here to share with you today the University of Saskatchewan's deybwewin-taapwaywin-tapwewin indigenous truth policy. This policy, the first in Canada at any post-secondary institution, is for indigenous membership and citizenship verification of documentation.
USask has nearly 28,000 students. Nearly 4,000 of those students are indigenous. Our policy's purpose is to protect indigenous-specific space, space designed and designated for indigenous people. Our core value of the policy is principles over personalities.
The policy is about verification documentation that will be required for all incoming assertions of indigenous membership and citizenship by members of the university community where the claim may result in a material advantage or where the absence of verification would be otherwise contrary to the principles recognized in this policy
Our policy is not about identity. We don't use the terminology anywhere in the policy. This is about who claims you. The university is also not the adjudicator of what documentation to accept. It is the inherent sovereign right of indigenous people to determine their own membership. We listen to the indigenous governments to tell us what documentation they want us to accept from their members or citizens. We follow the Inuit, Métis and first nations people of Canada.
Any student or employee of the university seeking a material advantage is required to proceed through our verification process. Our in-house designed portal system collects the information and stores the documentation for review and verification. Our policy is part of a larger intention to decolonize the institution through our indigenous strategy ohpahotân-oohpaahotaan, or let's fly up together. We are committed to ensuring indigenous space and resources going to indigenous people. We've spent the last several years working to indigenize the university, and this is part of that—to create safe and accountable spaces for all indigenous people.
Thank you.