Where are you From? Reframing Facilitated Admissions Policies in the Faculty of Health Sciences

Understanding that Indigenous learners can face specific barriers or challenges when pursuing higher education, schools and programs within McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences have facilitated admissions streams for Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) applicants. The intent of reframing a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:aboriginal policy studies
Main Authors: Danielle N. Soucy, Cornelia Wieman
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
French
Published: University of Alberta 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5663/aps.v9i1.29359
https://doaj.org/article/6471e9e9265b4521ade63b6f9070994a
Description
Summary:Understanding that Indigenous learners can face specific barriers or challenges when pursuing higher education, schools and programs within McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences have facilitated admissions streams for Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) applicants. The intent of reframing admissions policies is to provide equitable access while aligning with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, specifically Number 23. This work explores the development of an Indigenous-determined Facilitated Indigenous Admissions Program (FIAP), a self-identification policy that moves away from the politics of mathematical blood quantum to nationhood, community, and seeing the applicant as whole being. Further, it critiques (for example) medical school admissions as biased, in that they often replicate an elite and narrow segment of society. It also addresses how interpretations of decisions like Daniels v Canada, which speaks to the rights of Métis and non-status Indigenous peoples, are communicated or miscommunicated within emerging population groups in terms of rights and their potential relationship to admissions.