For me, reconciliation means working to learn about and acknowledge the legacy and far-reaching impacts of Canada’s policies affecting Indigenous peoples, notably those that created and sustained residential schools. Reconciliation also means a commitment, today, to centring Indigenous presence, knowledges, excellence, and traditions in our campus settings.
For reconciliation to succeed, people like me -- who are not Indigenous -- need to be willing to have the difficult, often uncomfortable conversations about the realities of privilege and the way that it has operated to our benefit while setting up barriers for others. This requires humility and courage.
In my own work, my commitment to reconciliation means working through my teaching and research and my role as Associate Provost to respond to the 52 Calls to Action in the Report of the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education.
Angela Campbell (BA (Hons) ’95, BCL/LLB ’99)
Professor of Law
Associate Provost, Equity & Academic Policies
