Broad review looks at progress on Aboriginal issues

The man heading the Council sub-committee charged with tracking progress toward the University's Aboriginal goals is confident his group will paint a positive picture when it reports back to Council this spring.

John Thompson, a St. Thomas More College sociology professor, said while the sub-committee was set up specifically to follow the implementation of eight motions relating to academic support for Aboriginal students passed by Council last May, its work has been much broader. The motions, he said, are just part of a "highly integrated" process on campus that includes the Aboriginal foundational document as well as initiatives already underway, "so we're not starting from ground zero here".

The May motions, presented by Council's Planning Committee, call on colleges and departments to give high priority to setting up support services designed to curb an Aboriginal student failure and withdrawal rates as high as 50 per cent in some colleges. These include transition classes, a task force on academic preparedness, more effort to recruit and retain Aboriginal students, and language instruction. One motion also specifies there be a feasibility study for an Aboriginal student lounge.

In addition to tracking progress on the motions, Thompson said the sub-committee - made up of representatives from Council's Planning, Instructional Development, Budget, Academic Programs and Capital Planning Committees as well as from the undergraduate and graduate student bodies - has a mandate to co-ordinate feedback on the Aboriginal Plan foundational document. The two, he said, "are quite overlapped. If you look at the (Aboriginal) document, you'll see that it deals with issues that come out of those motions. It's asking colleges to meet many of the resolutions ... and that's not accidental."

But he's quick to add that the onus is not entirely on colleges: "Some of the issues are college-specific and some are University-wide so work is going on at two levels at the same time".

For example, if it's the University's goal to make itself more hospitable to Aboriginal students, then language training must be addressed "but colleges must deal with language at their own level. Setting these kinds of priorities is part of what the (foundational) document is asking colleges to do. It will mean some re-allocations of resources at the college and the University level but I'm convinced the will is there. We're in this together."

The sub-committee is also "looking for specific, practical activities to carry out these goals," said Thompson. In exploring existing Aboriginal initiatives on campus, the group has confirmed that "for a long time, many people have been doing really outstanding work in these areas. They know a lot and they have had a lot of success."

By raising the profile of these initiatives, Thompson believes "we can build, in a very significant way, on that work", much of which is done outside the University's base budget. That leads the sub-committee to an exploration of the budgetary implications of meeting Aboriginal goals because "we've got to attract funding sufficient to carry out this work".

Almost as significant as the concrete efforts being made to meet the requirements of the Council resolutions and to finalize the Aboriginal Plan is what Thompson termed "the informal", the day-to-day discussion of and increased sensitivity to the needs of Aboriginal students.

"The informal is starting to be quite strong on campus," he said. "It's what people are paying attention to" as they move toward more formal processes like the preparation of College plans. "The formal might not have the motivation and drive it needs were it not for the informal" which Thompson believes creates a "significant buy-in" for faculty, staff and administrators.

As the sub-committee continues to assess progress in meeting Aboriginal goals, Thompson pointed out "our job is not to do it. Our job is to report it back to Council but part of our responsibility is to make sure it's moving along."

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