This year, Carleton launched a new Indigenous Policy and Administration (IPA) program that would provide students and/or managers and administrators who work with, and in, First Nations, Métis and Inuit governance and administration to strengthen their organizations and incorporate community-based Indigenous knowledge.
The deadline for applications for the two new IPA graduate diplomas (one of which is targeted at current grad students) is April 15 for the summer 2015 start date, while applications for the MA in Public Administration with an IPA Concentration are being accepted until May 1 for a fall start date.
Heather Dorries, who has extensive experience in the fields of environmental and First Nations planning, has been hired as part of the program team. She worked as a researcher for the Chiefs of Ontario where she collaborated with a team orf practitioners and community members to research and write a handbook on environmental assessment from an Indigenous perspective. She has also worked as a consultant, completing reports on source water protection planning and Traditional Environment Knowledge, as well as an Assistant Professor at McMaster University and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia. Most recently, she was working as a Research Associate for the City of Toronto. She is of Anishnaabe and European descent, and a member of the Sakgeeng First Nation in Manitoba.
The IPA program was developed, based on a long term engagement process with various Indigenous groups and individuals. Tracy Coates, a Carleton alumna, who is also Mohawk, spent seven months meeting with over 170 Indigenous people and groups all over Canada to get their feedback about the design and content of the program. “You can’t do something to meet peoples’ needs if you don’t ask them what their needs are,” noted Coates.
People told her that they wanted an ongoing engagement process so a 9-member advisory circle drawn mainly from First Nation, Métis and Inuit people was established, along with a four-person Elders Circle. People emphasized that a program was needed that would find a good balance between theory and practice and also between Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews. As people also wanted experiential opportunities, full-time students in the Public Administration MA program will be able to pursue co-op placements in IPA-relevant settings.
With that in mind, the Carleton team developed an intriguing model to train policymakers coming from their own worldview to understand and bridge to other worldviews. The IPA courses will be delivered as an intensive on-campus Summer Institute and also offered online. Some of the course offerings include: Issues in Contemporary Governance: First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI); Financial Management in FNMI Governments and Organizations; Economic and Community Development in Indigenous Territories; Aboriginal Peoples and Canadian Law; Aboriginal Health and Social Policy; Indigenous People and Urban Policy and Administration; and Policy Research and Evaluation for Indigenous Policy and Administration.
“I appreciate the effort that Carleton is going through to incorporate indigenous ways of thinking and learning,” says Jennifer David, Senior Consultant with Aarluk, Consilium and Stonecircle. “Sometimes these can be seen as at odds with western academic learning, but the reality is that our Indigenous leaders need to understand both. I believe these new IPA programs are one tool that our leaders can use to navigate through these changing times in order to support and strengthen our Indigenous communities and governments.”
For more information about the program, please click on this website.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 in News, Programs
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