Indigenization

Laurier is proud to foster a community that embraces Indigenous initiatives as part of our institutional identity. Led by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, Laurier has been working toward the goal of Indigenization, a term that reflects the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge into the daily life of the university.

Indigenous Strategic Plan

As a result of extensive consultations with Indigenous Elders, community members, faculty, staff, and students, Wilfrid Laurier University’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives developed a university-wide Indigenization strategy that has been a core initiative of Laurier’s Action Plan for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) and Indigeneity.

The Indigenous Strategic Plan was unanimously approved by the university Senate and Board of Governors in the summer of 2023.

This plan is informed by existing Indigenous scholarship on reconciliation and decolonization in the Canadian academy. It reinforces Laurier’s commitment to Indigenization and fostering a community that honors Indigenous knowledge and practices at Laurier. It also reflects Laurier’s belief that educational institutions have a duty to address the legacy of harm caused by colonial policies and practices.

In addition to a high-level view of Indigenization at Laurier with larger overarching goals, the plan outlines three distinct approaches to Indigenization at the university: inclusion, reconciliation and decolonization.

Our Campuses

Our Waterloo and Brantford campuses are located in the heart of southwestern Ontario, about an hour from Toronto. Kitchener-Waterloo and Brantford both have large urban Indigenous populations – 10,000 and 8,000, respectively – and are within a 2.5-hour drive of 18 First Nations communities. The Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations are only a 15-minute drive from our Brantford campus. There are 12 Métis councils within a 3-hour radius: Hamilton, ON; Brampton, ON; Kitchener, ON; Midland, ON; Owen Sound, ON; Beaverton, ON; Thorold, ON; Oshawa, ON; Peterborough, ON; London, ON; Toronto, ON; and Windsor, ON.

Laurier's Land Acknowledgement

Wilfrid Laurier University strives to improve its relationship with the land and people with whom we share it. As such, it is important to further our understanding of the long-standing history that has brought Laurier to reside on the land, and to seek to understand our place within that history.

Laurier’s Kitchener-Waterloo, Brantford and Milton campuses are close to 18 First Nations communities and 12 Métis councils. The Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations are only a 15-minute drive from our Brantford campus.

Acknowledging them reminds us of our important connection to this land where we live, learn and work. We recognize, honour and respect these Nations as the traditional stewards, since time immemorial, of the lands and water on which Laurier is now present.