The University of Saskatchewan says it is introducing a new policy that leaves verifying Indigenous identity up to those communities and their governments.
The policy is to apply when somebody seeks a position or scholarship that is being held for an Indigenous person.
Peter Stoicheff, president and vice-chancellor at the university, says it plans to require people to present documentation to support their identity.
He says the university does not intend to determine who is Indigenous or not, but instead be guided by Indigenous communities and their governments who are to provide the documentation.
He adds the documentation can look different depending on which community an Indigenous person identifies with.
The university has been working on this policy since early 2021 and it is to be fully implemented within two to five years.
“I think that the outcome will be confidence on the part of all members of our community, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, that those positions intended for Indigenous peoples are held by Indigenous peoples,” Stoicheff said.
“There is no way we could have done this without the really intense and time-consuming participation of many Indigenous leaders:
Elders, knowledge keepers, language keepers, chiefs, presidents.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2022.
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