IEC Website (External Site)
Rationale
The Indigenous Engagement Committee (IEC) came in direct response to the 2020 Long Range Plan (LRP) recommendation #46:
We recommend that CASCA establish a new committee dedicated to facilitating engagement and relationships with Indigenous communities, and that can partner with existing groups working to promote STEM programs that embrace both Western and Indigenous approaches. The goals should be to listen to Indigenous communities, to discover mutual interests, and to identify opportunities to learn from and support each other. Potentially in partnership with the CASCA Education and Public Outreach committee, this committee can forge partnerships with Indigenous organizations, support Indigenous education in astronomy and STEM, and can develop astronomical learning material in Indigenous languages in collaboration with relevant teachers and programs.
The LRP recommendations #1, 14, 17 to 25, highlighting the need to ensure consent of the Indigenous people on the land where astronomy facilities are located, and recommendations #39, 44, and 45, linked to the establishment of a more inclusive space in Astronomy for Indigenous people, are also connected to this committee’s terms of reference.
Mandate and Terms of Reference
The Long Range Plan Community Recommendations Implementation Committee (LCRIC) drafted the following terms of reference for the IEC committee:
- To actively seek out and engage in dialogues with Indigenous communities, to discover mutual interests, and to identify opportunities to learn from and support each other.
- To partner with existing groups working to promote STEM programs that embrace both non-Indigenous and Indigenous approaches.
- To forge partnerships with Indigenous organizations to support Indigenous education in astronomy and STEM.
- To facilitate connections to funding and support for community educational projects related to Indigeneity.
- To foster the development of culturally appropriate astronomical learning material in Indigenous languages in collaboration with teachers and programs.
- To build and regularly advertise a public database of resources related to reconciliation and Indigenous engagement that can be accessed by all CASCA members. These resources include but are not restricted to Truth and Reconciliation training, and best practices for publicly and privately funded projects.
- To organize regular public consultations (webinars, conference sessions) of all CASCA members on specific Indigenous topics to encourage their engagement.
- To guide the creation of IEC committees for Canadian facilities and projects that require such an advisory council.
During the CASCA AGM meeting of 2023, the then CASCA president, Christine Wilson, asked Laurie Rousseau-Nepton (then a retiring member of the LCRIC) to chair the new IEC committee, considering her record of collaborations with Indigenous communities, and being a member of the Innu First Nation. Karun Thanjavur, member of the CASCA board with a record of collaborations with Indigenous communities as well was selected as co-chair. A call for interest was sent to the community to find members interested in the IEC’s initiatives in September 2023. Robert Cockcroft, Julie-Bolduc Duval, Mark Halpern, and Samantha Lawler answered the call and the first CASCA IEC committee was born.
The Committee meets every two weeks.