The University of Toronto's Office of Indigenous Initiatives has hit a milestone in its educational efforts: providing Indigenous cultural competency training to more than 10,000 students, staff, faculty and librarians across the university.
John Croutch, Indigenous training co-ordinator and a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded First Nation, leads the four-part learning series, which explores Canada's hidden history of Indigenous-settler relations, the impact of state decisions and policies, the role of land acknowledgments, and the nature of allyship.
"Reconciliation is about building a relationship between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Peoples so that we can see that we are not so different," says Croutch, who joined the Office of Indigenous Initiatives in 2018.
"As you start to build those relationships, you start to feel more comfortable around Indigenous Peoples because you know what we've been through."
Given high demand for the sessions, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives recently hired a second Indigenous training co-ordinator, Andrea Johns, to support the delivery of programming and create more opportunities for engagement.
Croutch says he hopes participants walk away from his sessions with a greater understanding of the impacts of settler colonialism and its focus on the erasure of Indigenous Peoples.
"I hope it will help them understand some of the socioeconomic conditions that Indigenous Peoples live with and the fact that we were segregated in schools, hospitals and on reserves … in the past, the average Canadian could never build a relationship with us," he says. "But that's beginning to change."
While the training sessions touch on uncomfortable truths that can be difficult for many Canadians to hear, Croutch's expansive knowledge, strong facilitation skills and willingness to share lived experiences allow him to connect deeply with learners.
"John is a talented trainer who is able to deliver complex and challenging content in a way that informs the participant without placing blame and offers solutions and a path forward in reconciliation efforts," says Shannon Simpson, senior director of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. "He has been able to reach community members who may not otherwise have considered this important and, in doing so, has shifted views and opinions."
Participants' feedback echo these sentiments. They describe Croutch as "a deeply engaged and passionate expert" who "challenges us with uncomfortable truths in a way that inspires further reflection and learning."
Another participant described the sessions as "the history lesson we should have gotten in school."
While Croutch says he still encounters some individuals who want to debate the history or challenge his teachings, he's seen a shift in how people react to the training over the years.
"I have noticed a definite upswing in awareness and less resistance than I did in 2019," he says. "I believe that the university is doing much more to facilitate that awareness of Indigenous presence and futurity … for example, Indigenous land acknowledgments, the accommodation of smudging, the Ziibiing landscape project, the Maanjiwe nendamowinan building at the Mississauga campus, Feather Bearers at convocation, and the Indigenous Tuition Initiative to name a few.
"There is also less resistance to the trainings, I believe, because as more people train, the resisters are beginning to become the outliers."
