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The push to transform universities coincides with a time of heightened Indigenous activism in Canada flowing from the Idle No More movement. Academic appointments are seen as levers to reverse the harmful effects of colonialism.

“Advocacy is often in the eye of the beholder, but in the Indigenous studies context, much of what we do is about speaking truth to colonial power,” said Chris Andersen, dean of the faculty of native studies at the University of Alberta. At a 2011 conference looking at how to Indigenize universities, D’Arcy Vermette, now a native studies professor at the University of Alberta, said he had one recommendation: “Ensure that if you are on a hiring committee, that you hire people who see the liberation of Aboriginal peoples as their primary objective.”

Innes says it is natural for Indigenous professors to seek to help their communities, but that does mean they are cheerleaders.

“Most Indigenous scholars are explicitly working towards ways in which to improve indigenous people’s lives, whether they are literature scholars talking about novels or they are doing legal scholarship that can lead to $50-million land claims,” he said.

“For some people, that is advocacy as opposed to scholarly work. But, of course, there are very few people who become academics and say they don’t want their research to make any meaningful contribution to society. People in Indigenous studies are more explicit about that.”

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