From Performative to Transformative: An Institutional Ethnography of Decolonizing Pedagogical Practices in Post-Secondary Educational Institutions in Ontario, Canada

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada's report, released in May 2015, calls upon post-secondary institutions to play a major role in redressing the educational needs of Indigenous peoples. Emphasizing the need for Indigenous autonomy, self-determination, and community participation in all curriculum and program developments, the report urges "post-secondary institutions to educate teachers on how to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into the classroom" (2015, 7). Since then, universities across Canada have responded, instituting culturally appropriate programs and policy initiatives, including mandatory courses for all students, language classes, and Indigenous strategic plans. While many of these initiatives are exemplary, involving the extensive participation of Indigenous communities, there is no consensus on what decolonization means or how it will be achieved. Several Indigenous scholars have called into question the feasibility of doing so, drawing our attention to the deficit model that has so often been used when incorporating Indigenous content and practices into the academy (Simpson 2014; Archibald et al. 2016). Although recent surveys and narratives address Indigenous scholars, students and staff experiences within post-secondary institutions (Brulé & Kolezar-Green, 2018; Debassige & Brunette, 2018; Gaudry & Lorenz, 2018, 2019), there is little empirical research on the social organization of decolonial pedagogical practices and policies. This presentation is based on the empirical research findings of an institutional ethnography (Smith, 1990, 1999, 2005) carried out from 2020 to 2024 that addressed this knowledge gap and examined the social organization of Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty, students and staff efforts to decolonize academic teaching practices and the challenges and successes that they encountered at three universities in the province of Ontario. The results of this study reveal how a Eurocentric understanding of inclusion and knowledge formation largely influences university policies, programs and curriculum development, limiting the possibility of transformative practices.