The Indigenous Action Plan serves as the guiding principle for all efforts to provide guidance and expertise on uOttawa services, supports and policies that affect Indigenous students, staff and faculty. Knowledge keepers and leadership from the Indigenous community were consulted and involved throughout its creation and were integral in its development. The process took nearly two years but this approach ensured that a multitude of Indigenous voices, knowledges and perspectives are included in the University’s future development.

Background

A wìgwàm [weeg-wahm] is the traditional dwelling of the Anishinaabeg people, the original inhabitants of the Ottawa region. A wiigwaam frame is constructed of arched poles, tied together to form a domed structure, and horizontal structural poles, called stabilizing hoops. An Anishinaabeg teaching compares a healthy community to a wìgwàm. The vertical poles represent individuals in the community, as they maintain autonomy at the base yet gain their stability from their connection at the top. The values and goals of the group are represented by the hoop poles, as they encircle the community and support the structure. 

uOttawa’s Indigenous Action Plan is organized according to this teaching—the community will be supported by the goals and values outlined in this document. For the structure to be strong and functional, each vertical pole must individually support its share of the weight, and the strength and stability comes from the framework’s hoops. 

The University of Ottawa is engaging in the process of Indigenization by learning from and working with Indigenous worldviews. This will be achieved by creating a connected community in which all faculties and service areas cooperate to integrate Indigenous worldviews into their activities, while maintaining open communication and mutual support. The University’s Indigenous Action Plan weaves throughout all sectors of the University—faculties, departments, student services, staff and student organizations, and the senior administration. Working together in this manner, Indigenous knowledge and traditions can be appropriately integrated and infused into the University, as interconnectivity is a cornerstone of an Indigenous worldview. The implementation process will enrich all areas of our university, highlight the diversity and depth of Indigenous knowledge and promote Indigenous methods, theoretical traditions and pedagogies.

Effective communication with internal and external University stakeholders is key to making uOttawa’s Indigenous Action Plan a success. The first step was the creation of this framework by Indigenous Affairs and the Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs, in consultation with the Indigenous Education Council and local Indigenous communities, as well as feedback from Indigenous student associations.

Action plan framework

Hoop 1 graphic.

Hoop 1: The institution

Policy, procedural, service, and institutional betterment. Hoop 1 includes actions intended to bring about structural changes to the staffing, administrative practice, and governance of the university.

Hoop 2 graphic.

Hoop 2: Faculties, departments, and programs

Indigenous curriculum and research development. This hoop brings systemic intellectual change to the university landscape, in order to attract and retain Indigenous scholars and students while promoting campus-wide Indigenization via research and teaching excellence in multiple fields.

Hoop 3 graphic.

Hoop 3: The physical space

Aesthetic infusion, inclusion, improvement. Hoop 3 binds together a group of actions intended to bring aesthetic and symbolic changes to the space we inhabit together on our campus.

Hoop 4 graphic.

Hoop 4: Indigenous community

Internal and external engagement. Our final hoop promotes and facilitates the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge keepers and elders, communities, and organizations in the day-to-day experiences of students, faculty, and staff.