Non-Indigenous prof to teach residential schools course

HALIFAX • A non-Aboriginal history professor will be allowed to teach a residential schools course at Mount Saint Vincent University, despite objections from some who say the course should be the purview of Indigenous academics.

The Halifax school says a meeting was held Tuesday at the request of Dr. Martha Walls, who developed the course. The discussion included history department leaders, faculty, school administration and the senior adviser to the president on Aboriginal affairs.

“Dr. Walls has the support of Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty and administration at the Mount, to teach the course regarding residential schools,” the university said after the meeting. “Indigenous faculty and staff at the Mount believe that true allies committed to honest reconciliation — like Dr. Walls — must be engaged in sharing knowledge of First Nations/Canadian history in order to reach all those in education who should be reached with this important information.”

Last week, critics said the decision to assign a “settler scholar” to teach the course was a kind of historical appropriation and reinforcement of the systemic oppression of First Nations.

The university said it recognizes the consequences of colonization and is committed to continued work with partners inside and outside the school and will continue to “strongly support” Indigenous students and communities, including increasing the number of Indigenous faculty in the university.

The meeting came a day after a group of Canadian professors spoke out against the university’s handling of the controversy. The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship said a professor’s race or ethnicity should not be a consideration when assigning a course and it chided Mount Saint Vincent for holding the meeting, saying it would undercut university collegiality and academic integrity.