Partnerships and Collaborations
Partnerships and Collaborations
Mikana develops partnerships with those interested in enacting meaningful change within their industry/organization in terms of decolonization and Indigenous rights.
Mikana offers support to organizations that have already received basic training on Indigenous realities. Without claiming to have all the answers or a universal formula, Mikana staff members, Ambassadors, and/or collaborators may offer insight and explore possible solutions regarding decolonization and supporting the rights of Indigenous peoples.
Mikana believes in long-term impacts and does so by participating in collaborative projects. These collaborations result in new tools and sustainable meaningful change in combatting racism and discrimination against Indigenous peoples.
Ahuntsic College’s Indigenization Process
Since 2018, Mikana has accompanied Ahuntsic College in its indigenization process. Numerous educational activities and exchange meetings have taken place with staff members and students of the College. This collaboration is in accordance with our commitment to support systemic and sustainable changes.
More recently, in early 2020, we co-developed and facilitated a workshop called ” Indigenization through the Pedagogy of Discomfort “. This workshop was articulated around the role of discomfort in integrating sensitive notions, that may translate to feelings such as guilt, ignorance or incompetence, and shame about one’s identity or the various forms of ethnocentrism. The pedagogy of discomfort is a powerful tool to generate new forms of understanding of cultural otherness.
What can the process of indigenization look like?
Indigenization revolves around the desire to develop, at the heart of an institution, mindsets and behaviors aimed at concretely recognizing the contribution of Indigenous cultures in all spheres of life. Before thinking of indigenization, one must do personal reflections on its own colonial reflexes. This will help in being able to correct them.
Indigenization can include: The organization of various cultural activities; The creation of an Indigenous Student Committee and offering these students scholarships; To re-think its practices; To offer training to staff and members; To create decolonization & indigenization workshops for the organization; To create tools, such as a guide to good practices.
For more information, please visit https://www.collegeahuntsic.qc.ca/notre-college/espace-dautochtonisation
