ABSTRACT

Despite increasing calls for systemic change in the Canadian higher education sector, Indigenous leaders continue to be under-represented, under-funded, and overworked. This qualitative study investigates the purview of senior Indigenous leaders within Canadian higher education, drawing on interviews conducted with four senior Indigenous leaders at Canadian universities. The study, underpinned by emancipatory Indigenist research, draws on the literature predominantly written by Canadian Indigenous scholars. Reporting on Stage Five of a qualitative Australian project – Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education, this paper is the first of four international aspects of the larger project.

Findings suggest these Indigenous senior leaders overcome significant barriers to gain senior roles, while the weight of systemic change is carried by individual Indigenous leaders. The question addressed is how senior Indigenous leaders can unsettle systemic barriers so that universities are facing in the direction of where they need to be going, and not where they’ve been.

摘要

尽管要求加拿大高等教育部门进行系统性变革的呼声越来越高，但土著领导人的代表性仍然不足、资金不足和工作过度。这项定性研究调查了加拿大高等教育中高级土著领导人的职权范围，并利用了对加拿大大学四位高级土著领导人的采访。该研究以解放原住民研究为基础，借鉴了主要由加拿大原住民学者撰写的文献。报告澳大利亚定性项目的第五阶段——Walan Mayiny：高等教育中的土著领导，本文是更大项目的四个国际方面的第一篇。

调查结果表明，这些土著高级领导人克服了获得高级职位的重大障碍，而系统性变革的重量则由个别土著领导人承担。解决的问题是土著高级领导人如何消除系统性障碍，使大学面临着他们需要去的方向，而不是他们曾经去过的地方。