Kîyokêwin (Visiting), leadership, and consenting to learn in public: indigenizing social sciences and humanities at the Royal Military College of Canada

ABSTRACT

Espousing Indigenous Research Methods including Kîyokêwin/Visiting, beadwork as an embodied pedagogical and research practice, and storytelling, this article explores the authors’ experiences working in senior academic leadership positions to support indigenization at the Royal Military College of Canada. The authors consent to learn in public and discuss opportunities for role-modeling individual leadership in institutional contexts and for building small ‘safe enough’ spaces that generate energy and momentum that have the possibility of supporting broader-scale indigenization efforts. The authors understand the call to indigenize education as a non-negotiable imperative, and argue that it is an ethical responsibility for all who live in Canada to engage intentionally in concrete acts of reconciliation – in (re)building relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic leadership
• beadwork
• post-secondary education
• storytelling
• Truth and reconciliation
• Visiting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Danielle Lussier

Dr. Danielle Lussier, Red River Métis from Treaty 1 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis Nation, is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and mum to three proud, tiny Métis. She holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Licence en Droit in the civil law of Quebec, a Master of Laws with Specialization in Women’s Studies, and a PhD in Law. Called to the bar in Ontario in 2009 following a research assistantship at the Supreme Court of Canada and clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada, she has served on the Indigenous Advisory Group of the Law Society of Ontario since 2018. Prior to taking up her position as the inaugural Associate Vice-Principal, Indigenous Knowledges and Learning, at the Royal Military College of Canada, she spent a number of years supporting Learners at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law; first as Indigenous Learner Advocate, and later as Director of Indigenous and Community Relations and Professor of Indigenous Legal Orders. Her academic research considers the development of Indigenous Legal Pedagogies for use in learning spaces, the role Indigenous Methodologies can play in the revitalization of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and pathways to reconciliation, indigenization, and decolonization of post-secondary education. As a beadwork artist, she is keenly interested in the relationship between law and beadwork and the use of beadwork practice as a tool to (re)build community, facilitate learning, valourize Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and mobilize knowledge.

James Denford

Dr. James Denford emigrated from Great Britain to Canada, grew up in and around Edmonton in Treaty 6 Territory, and put down roots in the Kingston area to raise a family in the unceded territory of the Hodinöhsö:ni and Anishinaabe peoples. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering and MBA from the Royal Military College of Canada and a PhD in Management from Queen’s University. His research focuses on knowledge management and the strategic use of information technology (IT), particularly in public sector contexts, and he has a particular interest in non-dominant paradigm research methods. He has been published in top academic journals and practitioner outlets in several fields. He had a 24-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces, following which he started a second career in 2012 as a professor at RMC. Appointed as Dean on January 1, 2016, two weeks after the release of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he has committed to learning, implementing the Calls to Action at RMC, and walking a path of reconciliation with the guidance of all those willing to teach. He is a willing and enthusiastic, but unskilled apprentice beader.