Equity and Indigenous Education

Laurier's Faculty of Education is committed to access to education for all students. We recognize that past practices may have restricted access to education and the development of their full potential to children from marginalized or oppressed groups.

We respect and honour the traditions and experiences of all peoples, and actively seek to include peoples with diverse backgrounds. And we respect and honour the traditional stewards of the lands and water on which Laurier is now present. We live, learn and work here to develop future educators with greater awareness, knowledge and respect for the richness and diversity of all members of our community.

EDI and Indigenization Coalition

The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Coalition is a brave space where ideas are shared, exchanged, and developed to challenge systemic inequities and injustices. It was established in 2020 as a platform to make the Faculty of Education and our larger community more equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

Our development process has been student-led, but membership also includes faculty, staff, teacher candidates, alumni, and community members.

Learn more about our events and initaitives:

• Follow us on Instagram to keep up with the coalition, @LaurierEdu_EDII.
• Check out what we've done in previous years:
  • 2023 Year in Review Report
  • 2022 Year in Review Report

Find Educator Resources

EDI, Indigenization and decolonization are part of our core values as a learning institution. To help further the knowledge and skills of our community of educators, the EDI and Indigenization Coalition has prepared a collection of English and French digital resources for educator self-growth and resources for teaching in K-12 classrooms.

This catalogue is not exhaustive and updated over time. For any comments or suggestions, contact Avis Beek at abeek@wlu.ca.

Commitment to Indigenous Education

The Faculty of Education at Laurier understands the critical need to rethink the delivery and content of teacher education that is more inclusive of Indigenous Peoples of Canada. We are committed to the work of decolonizing our practices by first and foremost recognizing and accepting the reality of Canada’s colonial history. We are committed to decolonizing our curricula and educational practices. We begin this process by dialoguing with our Indigenous community partners and with a good heart and mind, to Indigenize our practices by infusing Indigenous content – teaching, worldviews, knowledges and perspectives – in all of our courses.

To this end, we take seriously the responsibility of taking the steps in the reconciliation process to move beyond the critical work of truth seeking and telling to creating meaningful action. We aim to raise awareness about Indigenous Peoples of Canada to replace intolerance (e.g., racism, stereotypes) instead of celebrating and honouring First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada. Furthermore, we aim to promote greater awareness and knowledge about Indigenous cultures and concerns to critically evaluate how schools can better incorporate culturally sensitive curricula and teaching methods, while building stronger relationships with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students, families and communities.

We strive to:

• Support the development of learners’ foundational knowledge base of First Nations, Inuit and Métis worldviews and teachings so that they may know how to respectfully integrate First Nations, Inuit and Métis topics and perspectives of education into their curricula and course designs.
• Encourage reciprocity, mutual understanding, acceptance, sharing, and transformation across cultures.
• Create a welcoming environment for Indigenous students, staff, and faculty at the Faculty of Education.

Statement on Equity

The Faculty of Education at Laurier acknowledges and respects the richness and diversity of all members of our community and values their contributions to every aspect of university life. Laurier strives to affirm people of all genders and sexual orientations; persons from diverse backgrounds, origins, and religions; persons with disabilities; Indigenous persons; persons of a visible minority; and, other disadvantaged, marginalized, and/or oppressed groups, as contributing to the vitality of the Laurier community, not in spite of their differences, but because of them.

Laurier recognizes the unique heritages of Indigenous peoples and supports the intentions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to preserve and express their distinctive indigenous cultures, histories, and knowledge through academic programming and co-curricular activities. The Faculty of Education will continue to implement policies and practices to address the barriers to equitable participation that exist in our society as a whole and within our institution. In doing so, we embed commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of what we do within the university and in our connections to local and global communities.

Gender Inclusivity

Courses in the Bachelor of Education program will be conducted in an affirming and mutually respectful atmosphere for people of all gender expressions and identities. Faculty members are provided with a class roster with all names as they appear on the official enrollment information. If teacher candidates (TCs) use a name different from the roster, they are asked to please notify instructors at the earliest convenience. Teacher candidates may also share gender pronouns with instructors.

Members of the class are expected to refer to one another by the name and pronouns identified by each student. If TCs are comfortable, they can familiarize their classmates about names and pronouns.

The Centre for Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CSEDI) has developed resources outlining how to request a different name to appear on some university records and systems such as Zoom, MyLearningSpace and email. They also provides information about Laurier’s Inclusive Washroom Initiative, support resources at Laurier, and more.