Memorial University calling for input on new Indigenous verification policy

Memorial University is looking for public input on an upcoming policy that will see Indigenous students and faculty asked to verify their Indigenous identity before accessing grants, scholarships and jobs set aside for Indigenous-only applicants.

The university announced Monday it had completed a draft policy and would accept public input for the next four weeks.

Verification policies are "something that Indigenous people, here and across the country, really are calling for," said Catharyn Andersen, MUN's vice-president of Indigenous affairs.

"There's a reason why we have those opportunities ... we should be sure that they're going to Indigenous students and Indigenous people."

Memorial University would join eight other post-secondary schools in Canada that have implemented a similar policy in recent years, she said. Those schools include Waterloo, McGill and Saskatchewan.

A final policy will ideally go into effect in the fall, Andersen said.

Students and faculty can still self-identify as Indigenous, but any funding or employment for Indigenous applicants would require them to adhere to the verification process and provide proof of membership in a recognized Indigenous group.

The verification committee will look at whether an Indigenous group has recognition under Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act, she said, or whether the group is recognized as Indigenous by their federally recognized Indigenous neighbours.

"It incorporates Indigenous ways of recognizing one another as well," Andersen said.

The policy follows the high-profile firing of former president Vianne Timmons, who for years claimed to be a member of an unrecognized Mi'kmaw band. After a CBC report in 2023 on the veracity of her ancestry, Timmons returned her Indspire Award.

Andersen says Timmons's case didn't prompt the university to draft a verification policy, but it did speed up the timeline.

"It's hard to argue that it didn't have an impact," Andersen said.

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