Co-ordinated and collective commitments Recommendation nine work will ideally be intentionally program-based and formally tied to student learning outcomes. As an institution, TMU has been intentionally working on equity-related priorities across the university for at least two decades. These efforts span multiple units and constituencies. The breadth of initiatives at TMU points to units moving forward in nimble and innovative ways. Work in any given program will ideally provide specific attention to outcomes and to content related to recommendation nine. Programs might pair this formal programmatic work with other equity-oriented learning initiatives in their program and at the university. A balance of programmatic autonomy and coordination can support change that is driven by faculty members, responsive to program needs and directions, and systemic. Programs will ideally continue to draw on the expertise and resources of units such as the OVPECI and the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) to implement change. Coordination might involve a shared language and understanding of concepts (equity, colonialism, racism, and other central ideas) and programmatic priorities (i.e. how these concepts are similarly relevant for programs within one faculty) and the identification of and response to thematic challenges and opportunities with programs that have disciplinary or other ties to each other. Finally, those at engagement sessions underscored the importance of programs as a whole, in contrast to only a small number of faculty members within a program, participating in the conversation about outcomes and contributions to programmatic change. Faculty members will ideally offer thoughtful attention to who will take responsibility for which components of change. Whether a faculty member is untenured and early in their career or a full professor; or whether a faculty member is part of a settler, Black, racialized, or Indigenous community or communities, will likely have a bearing on the role they might play in the conversation and process of change. Resources The co-ordination of resource alignment and priorities, programmatic plans and strategies, and capacities is critical. Participants in the spring 2023 meetings emphasized that the implementation of recommendation nine will have a direct relationship to: The alignment of priorities, expectations for change, and resource commitments. Ongoing and intentional consideration of the importance of and processes for engaging Indigenous faculty and staff and Indigenous community members beyond TMU, and supporting all faculty members and instructors in this work; and The necessity of appropriate support related to the coordination of (1) and (2). Programmatic and curricular change, on the one hand, are routine parts of a department’s work. Formally and informally, faculty members engage in ongoing programmatic reflection and change: they review existing courses, add new ones, and consider how to best implement the links between DLEs, program objectives, and program learning outcomes. At the same time, curricular change related to Indigenous content and equity is rarely routine. To implement recommendation nine, faculty members, in many cases, will have to consider new areas of knowledge and teaching. Outcomes informed by disciplinary and professional norms may offer limited attention to outcomes informed by the world in which we live and into which students will graduate and to which they will contribute. Likewise, change that brings Indigenous content and related equity priorities into formal teaching and learning settings will ideally be attentive to the process of programmatic change and how it bears on various groups and relationships. Faculty, staff, and students enter this work from different experiences, whether role related (i.e. as faculty or as students); or in regard to one’s experience in and knowledge of Indigenous, Black, racialized, settler and other communities. In the context of program priorities and clear plans related to offering Indigenous content, there will be a need for capacity building. Ideally, programs will engage in department conversations and together articulate a plan for going forward as related to recommendation nine. Such plans will centrally inform program needs.
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