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| Volume 8, Number 10 | February 2, 2001 |
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Academic focus on Aboriginal justice is major new priorityThe University of Saskatchewan has set course to become a national and even world leader in study and research on Aboriginal justice issues. University Council voted Jan. 25 to adopt a major proposal on Indigenous Peoples and Justice as a new priority area for the U of S. The move will mean the hiring of three new faculty (in Sociology, Political Studies, and Law), one administrator and establishment of a professional associate. Council endorsed a recommendation from its Planning Committee that the Indigenous Peoples and Justice proposal originating from the University’s Priority Determination Process Selection Committee be adopted. The priority will mean:
"The new undergraduate programs will make Saskatchewan a national leader in Indigenous justice. We already offer more courses in this area than any other university in Canada with a Native Studies department," says U of S Law Dean Beth Bilson, who helped develop the proposal. The new priority is designed to do three things: build on strengths the U of S already has in Aboriginal justice, to further an earlier-set goal of improving Aboriginal education, and to pursue an area that can build the University’s reputation for excellence. Planning Committee Vice-Chair, English Prof. Bill Slights, told Council the proposal has received widespread support, "based on the remarkable success of the Native Law Program of the College of Law, which has produced more Aboriginal lawyers than any other school in Canada." Vice-President Academic Michael Atkinson told Council this new priority is the fourth and last major new priority for the University, in a priority-setting process which began two years ago. The other three are: the Virtual College of Biotechnology; the Northern Ecosystems and Toxicology Institute; and Biomolecular Structures. After the Council meeting, Atkinson said the new priorities are important because they "build academic initiatives across departmental and college boundaries and strengthen areas of this University’s competitive advantage." He said the initiatives "show that even in circumstances of underfunding, we are prepared to innovate." Atkinson noted the $250,000 per year that the University will spend on the new priorities comes from a four-year process where deans are giving up about one per cent of their budgets for reallocation. "The deans have shown real courage in making this investment," Atkinson said. The University’s areas of specialty do pay off, he adds. "For example, biotechnology is already attracting people here. It’s an additional recruitment advantage." Support for the Indigenous Peoples and Justice priority came from the Colleges of Law and Arts & Science, Depts. of Sociology, Native Studies, Political Studies, and Psychology, the Native Law Centre, the federal and provincial governments, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, the Gabriel Dumont Technical Institute, and the Saskatchewan Archives Board. Atkinson and Slights said this proposals was one of at least half a dozen the Priority Determination Committee considered for its final priority. While many proposals had merit, they said the Aboriginal justice submission stood above the rest. The authors of the Aboriginal justice proposal state it was presented "in an environment which includes a widespread sense that the criminal justice system has failed Aboriginal people, concerns about the adequacy of current legal and constitutional paradigms to address Aboriginal issues, and an acknowledgment in the Framework for Planning for the U of S that this University must do more to address the needs of Aboriginal people." The proposal calls for "partnerships between Aboriginal communities and scholars in a number of academic disciplines." It wants the well-established Native Law Centre to be the "institutional heart" of Aboriginal justice research, and also wants "means of countering the anticipated difficulties in recruiting Aboriginal faculty members for the new positions."
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