Getting a Quality Education: Indigenising Post-Secondary Institutions in Northern Ontario Through the Indigenous Quality Assurance Project

Abstract

In Canada, many institutions have signed onto Indigenous education manifestos such as College and Institutes Canada’s Indigenous Education Protocol and Universities Canada’s Principles on Indigenous Education which generally advocate for respect for Indigenous knowledge systems and the meaningful participation and representation of Indigenous peoples in the academy. These declarations of commitment to indigenization, while widely announced and promoted in the public domain, do little to communicate and provide evidence of effective implementation, as defined by Indigenous peoples. As a result, a growing number of Indigenous scholars have questioned the intent, depth, and outcomes of indigenization efforts and have implicated indigenization in the ongoing system of settler colonialism.

In response, northern colleges in Ontario undertook the Indigenous quality assurance (IQA) project to develop Indigenous quality assurance standards and an implementation process complimentary to the colleges’ current audit-based quality assurance system. This article will discuss the development of the northern colleges’ IQA system and explore how the Indigenous quality assurance system can provide a tangible path forward to enact indigenization. In particular, the capacity of Indigenous quality assurance to address the calls by Indigenous scholars to ensure indigenization efforts are systemic, led by Indigenous peoples, everyone’s responsibility, and accountable to Indigenous peoples are explored.