SESSION 3.1: Indigenizing Support Services for Indigenous Adult Learners in Post-Secondary: A ‘Chutes and Ladders’ Journey of Inquiry

Post-secondary student support services for Indigenous adult learners in British Columbia are currently insufficient in the reconciliation of historical transgressions of Indigenous education and within the culturally appropriate developments towards Indigenization of the academy through radical institutional transformation of patriarchal and linear organizational structures. The Truth and Reconciliation (2015) calls to action address the historical assimilative actions of Canada on Indigenous peoples via the Indian residential school legacy. Education has a particular role within reconciliation for it can increase capacity building and strengthen relationships with communities. However, in order to decolonize and recognize the value of Indigenous knowledge for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous settler allies, authentic and transformative epistemological, axiological and ontological shifts to the academy are vital to the process of Indigenization. This project sought the opinions of current students and student support service workers in a British Columbia Indigenous-controlled institution to determine the current knowledge base of Indigenization and who should own the responsibility of Indigenizing post-secondary student services. The findings of this study indicated that building relationships and connections is the fundamental starting point towards bridging the gap in student support services for Indigenous adult learners