Presenter: Patricia-Anne Blanchet, Education Professional and Vicky Boldo, Cree Elder and Assistant Director of Bishop's First Nations Initiatives

Institution : Université de Sherbrooke 

More and more Native students are undertaking post-secondary education in Quebec. However, their academic trajectories are often atypical; they face several systemic barriers, and they experience various forms of discrimination. With this in mind, teams from two universities and two CEGEPs in the Pôle régional de l'enseignement supérieur en Estrie, dedicated to decolonization and helping Indigenous students, have developed an educational tool. This tool involves authentic discriminatory situations. The digital tool is called “Tbestawaw8gan : être à l'écoute des réalités étudiantes autochtones pour prévenir et contrer les discriminations” (“Tbestawaw8gan: Listening to Indigenous Student Realities to Prevent and Counter Discrimination). It is a space for the expression and demystification of Indigenous student realities, where certain key concepts are defined to help those who wish to engage with the Indigenous student community in a culturally relevant and meaningful way.