Elder Andrew Wesley, Cheryl Regehr and President Meric Gertler

Progress report on Indigenous initiatives shows U of T 'moving in the right direction'

Geoffrey Vendeville

Funding to hire Indigenous faculty and staff. A new Indigenous Mentoring Day to help job-seekers learn about working at the university. A new Office of Indigenous Initiatives to co-ordinate and oversee efforts at reconciliation across the University of Toronto’s three campuses. 

These are just three of the many ways the university has responded to the calls to action from U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee over the past few years – all highlighted in U of T’s inaugural annual progress report on the subject.

The progress report, released this week, looks at everything from faculty and staff recruitment to curriculum development and found “great strides in focusing our efforts at U of T” – but stressed the work is far from over.

“We have new Indigenous faces, staff and faculty across the university – we have had growth,” said Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, the university's director of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives.

“Because this is a long-term process and commitment, we always knew things weren’t going to happen overnight. But we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

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