Indigenous Education Council

The Indigenous Education Council is an advisory body to the President and Vice-Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University and the senior management team. The council will assist Laurier in meeting its Values, Vision, Mission and Guiding Principles as it pertains to our interactions with, and inclusiveness of Indigenous peoples.

The Laurier Strategy (2019-2024) states that: Laurier excels at creating a culture of engagement that develops the whole person and builds reciprocal community relationships by pursuing enhanced and accelerated initiatives to integrate Indigenous knowledge and practices across the university. With leading academic programs, support services, community outreach, ceremonies, and research, Laurier strives to create an environment in which Indigenous values are acknowledged and celebrated.

The Laurier Indigenous Education Council (IEC) has been created to promote a positive educational experience and success of Indigenous students at Laurier.

The IEC will, as part of its function, help to fulfil the condition for community engagement required by the Province of Ontario’s Post-Secondary Education Training and Action Plan funding in support of Indigenous student initiatives.

Terms of reference will be posted soon. They were updated this Spring 2023.

Full complement of 17 members shall be as follows:

• Elder
• Associate Vice-President Indigenous Initiatives
• Co-chair: President and Vice-Chancellor
  
• Co-chair: Indigenous Community representative
• Vice President Student Affairs (or designate)
• One Representative from the Indigenous Field of Study-Masters of Social Work program
• One Representative from the Laurier Brantford Indigenous Study program
• One Indigenous Staff Representative
• Three Laurier Indigenous student representatives.
  • Including at least one graduate student, one undergraduate student from the Brantford campus, and one undergraduate student from the Waterloo campus.
  • These dedicated student seats are to be filled for the spring meeting by recommendations from the Indigenous student services team.
• Manager of Indigenous Student Services
• Two Indigenous community organization representatives
• Four Indigenous community representatives, one of which will chair alternate meetings
  

Elder:
Banakonda Kennedy Kish Bell, bkennedykishbell@wlu.ca

Associate Vice President, Indigenous Initiatives:
Darren Thomas dthomas@wlu.ca

Co-chair, President and Vice-Chancellor:
Deborah MacLatchy, dmaclatchy@wlu.ca

Vice President, Student Affairs:
Ivan Joseph, joseph@wlu.ca

Indigenous Field of Study, Master of Social Work program representative:
Lori Hill lohill@wlu.ca

Indigenous Study Program Presentative:
Keri Chechoo kcheechoo@wlu.ca

Indigenous Staff Representative:
Laurie Minor lminor@wlu.ca

Indigenous Student Representatives:

Undergraduate Student Waterloo Campus: Celeste Bond: cbond@wlu.ca

Graduate Student: Krystene Green kgreen@wlu.ca and Sieara Miller mill1697@mylaurier.ca (alternating)

Undergraduate Student Brantford Campus: Brandon Scharuda scha1362@mylaurier.ca

Manager Indigenous Student Services:
Emily Daniel edaniel@wlu.ca

Two Indigenous Community Organization Representatives:

Nicole Robinson, nicole_robinson@wrdsb.on.ca. Representative from the Waterloo District School Board – Equity and Inclusion Officer Indigenous Focus

Indigenous Community Organization Representative: TBD

Four Indigenous Community Representatives (1 of which will co-chair)

Luane Roberts, robertsl@lao.on.ca. Co-Chair, Indigenous Community Representative

Veronica King, veronicak@mncfn.ca. Indigenous Community Representative - Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation

Jody Noah, pscounsellor@sfns.on.ca. Indigenous Community Representative - Southern First Nations Secretariat

Indigenous Community Member Representative: TBD

Specific calendar dates will be set for the next academic year each spring when the TOR are reviewed.

Meetings to be set/organized by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and agendas will be set with input requested from the council a minimum of two weeks prior to scheduled meetings.

The Laurier Indigenous Education Council (IEC) shall normally meet three times per year or as deemed necessary. Other meetings may be held at the call of both co-chairs.

Members should make every effort to attend scheduled meetings. When conflicts or unforeseen circumstances arise, members should, whenever possible, designate an alternate who will attend for them if necessary. If a member fails to attend three consecutive meetings, they may be asked to resign.

Minutes of each meeting will be kept, including discussion summaries, action items, and consensus decisions.

Visitors may attend council meetings; special guests may be invited to make presentations. Presentations will be made in a timely manner. There will be a limitation of time at presentations.

Quorum is 2/3 – 11 of 17 members.

Laurier shall provide administrative services and meeting expenses for the IEC and its committees, for the purpose of developing minutes, space agendas and materials for IEC meetings. At the request of members, travel expenses and honoraria will be reimbursed; travel claims can be submitted to the AVP Indigenous Initiatives by email.

• Indigenous staff representative, two-year terms of office
• Indigenous community/organization, two-year terms of office
• Students: Annual (one graduate and one undergrad from each campus)
• Community Co-chairs: Two years (maximum two consecutive terms)

AVP Indigenous Initiatives be responsible for seeking replacements.

Decision-making will be by consensus.

Only those who are identified members of the Council shall participate in deliberations.

To identify a consensus, the meeting chair will state the decisions as s/she understands it for the record.

In the case where there is not a clear consensus, the meeting chair should first ask every delegate in attendance to state her/his opinion on the subject at hand. If no consensus exists, the meeting chair may defer the decision until the next meeting.

Minutes will be updated soon.