After a two year planning process, the Aboriginal Studies Program opened its doors to students in the fall of 1994. Aboriginal Studies focuses on the languages, cultures, histories, creativity and well-being of Indigenous Peoples and on their knowledge within Canada and globally.
In the late 1980's, the Governing Council of the University of Toronto charged the Academic Board with looking at the relationship between the University and Aboriginal students in terms of both services and academics. Following the committee report, chaired by Professor E. Chamberlin, the Academic Board and the Governing Council directed all units to develop programs to ensure that the needs of Aboriginal students were met.
Further consolidating this directive, in 1992 Martha Chandler, then Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, established a committee headed by Craig Brown, then Vice-Dean, to look into how to integrate a focus on Aboriginal studies into the Arts and Sciences curriculum. The committee consisted of faculty from Arts and Sciences and from other divisions, as well as Diane Longboat, then the Director of First Nations House. As a whole, they continued to work throughout the 1993-1994 academic year under the direction of Don Dewees, who took over as Vice-Dean. The committee consulted widely both within the University of Toronto and in the Aboriginal communities of Ontario at large. At the end of that year, the committee proposed to the Dean that an Aboriginal Studies minor program be established within the Faculty of Arts and Science, with a major program to be developed in subsequent years.
The committee proposed that the program be interdisciplinary, drawing from the wide range of resources of the University of Toronto. It also resolved that Aboriginal Studies should fit into the goals of the University as a whole, with a focus on critical analysis and logical and creative thinking. In addition, Aboriginal Studies should be concerned with the reconceptualization of knowledge, requiring students to examine their own knowledge and experiences from different perspectives. Furthermore, it should also be designed to fit the needs of all students, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, an important goal as the program should not ghettoize students in any way. More particularly, the committee proposed that Aboriginal Studies initially consist of two core courses. These courses would be in the areas of language and culture, and would be the first stage in building a broader based program. Aboriginal Studies, as fully conceived, would contain courses in other areas, including science. In addition, language courses were considered to be key to the Program, following the mandate of the Chiefs of Ontario and the desires of the Elders Council of Ontario.
The Faculty of Arts and Science approved the establishment of Aboriginal Studies and made a decision that it should be jointly housed in the Departments of Anthropology and Linguistics. In the past years, Aboriginal Studies has grown from offering two courses to offering six or seven courses a year to offering twelve or more courses in a range of areas. It has added a major program and a specialist program in addition to the minor program that it began with, and has received strong support from across the University community. From the outset, Aboriginal Studies has worked very closely with First Nation House, a student services unit in planning and developing its program and goals. In 2000, Aboriginal Studies moved to University College. 2001-2002 was an exciting year, with the hiring of faculty with appointments to the program, and 2002-2003 saw the introduction of a major lecture series. In 2007 Aboriginal Studies moved into its own space in the North Borden Building, and in July 2007 Aboriginal Studies moved from University College to reporting directly to the Faculty of Arts and Science. The coming years will find even more changes in Aboriginal Studies that are sure to offer students more options and facilitate greater learning. For more information on Aboriginal Studies at the University of Toronto, check out the Home Page at the Faculty of Arts and Science, or here.