Carleton University moves to mandate Indigenous teaching

This is a fantastic initiative that more Canadian universities (and indeed, universities around the world) should consider making part of their practice.

The opportunity to learn about traditional knowledge while I was a student at Carleton University (Engineering, Canadian Studies) really helped me develop my critical thinking skills and gave me a wider understanding of Canada's knowledge traditions and place in the world. Spending time learning from my mentors - indigenous friends and elders as well as my professors - guided me towards what became my academic disciplines, the history and philosophy of science and human geography. Excellent therefore to see these new partnership and strategic initiatives at Carleton University. Wishing them every success! Michael Bravo, University of Cambridge.

I have addressed this issue in UBC's peer-reviewed, Critical Education with a piece titled "The Indigenization Controversy" available online. In short, consider the proposal a vital requirement that all of higher education must embrace for not only the sake of Indigenous Peoples but all of life on earth. Read also what the UN report on biodiversity says about the importance of Indigenous worldview in this regard. As Noam Chomsky writes on the back of my book about Indigenizing Mainstream Education, "The grim prognosis of life is a result of forgetting (Indigenous ways of knowing)."