For a moment in 2015, it seemed like every university president in Canada had heard the calls to action. Following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, institutions from coast to coast pledged to support reconciliation, Indigenization, and the creation of space for Indigenous knowledge within the academy. Much like when treaties were signed, many fine words were said.
But as the years passed, a troubling pattern emerged. When the work of reconciliation required more than symbolic gestures—when it demanded actual resources, long-term commitment, and sustained investment—many institutions quietly began to retreat. Now, York University has joined that list.
The university’s decision to suspend admissions to 18 undergraduate programs, including Indigenous Studies, is a betrayal not only of its stated values, but of the very purpose of higher education.
I understand that budgets are tight. I understand the pressures universities face from underfunding, from shifting demographics, and from government policies that often seem to favour the commodification of education over its deeper mission. But I also understand that institutions—like people—reveal their true values when times get tough. And this decision reveals something profoundly disappointing.
How can we explain the suspension of a program like Indigenous Studies at a time when interest in these courses is booming? As York Professor Brock Pitawanakwat noted, his Indigenous Studies courses are overflowing. Students are eager to learn, to understand, and to engage with Indigenous worldviews—because they know that to live responsibly in Canada, they must confront our shared history and present reality. The irony is that, in 2018, a senior York administrator said of Indigenous education: “For lasting transformation to occur, these changes need to be embedded in our administrative and educational structures.”
So why, then, are we cutting off the very knowledge that fosters critical reflection, ethical awareness, and intercultural understanding?
What is the purpose of a university education? Is it merely to produce workers? Or is it to create citizens capable of thinking, of questioning, and of contributing to a better society?
Universities must be more than factories churning out credentials. They are—at their best—the guardians of truth, the spaces where difficult conversations take place, and where new ways of thinking can emerge. Indigenous Studies is not a luxury. It is central to this mission.
Suspending admissions to Indigenous Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Jewish Studies, and Environmental Biology sends a chilling message: that knowledge which challenges the status quo, that reflects diversity, and that promotes equity is expendable.
These are not neutral decisions. They are political choices, made behind closed doors, without proper consultation. They echo what happened at Laurentian University in 2021—a devastating collapse driven by mismanagement and short-term thinking, in which Indigenous and French-language programs were disproportionately affected. We were told it was a one-off. A tragedy. An outlier. But now York follows suit, and the pattern is becoming clear.
If Ontario’s universities—once proud institutions of critical inquiry—continue to treat education as a product and students as consumers, then other provinces may follow. We risk gutting our universities of their soul. What will remain is an empty shell of academic respectability, serving only corporate interests and political expedience.
I have seen some amazing work at my own university, the University of Ottawa. In the Faculty of Education, we too are under pressure—as is every institution. But we are thinking deeply about our mission, the outcomes we want for our students, and the long-term impact they will have in classrooms once they graduate and become teachers. They must be equipped not only with information, but with the ability to make ethical, informed, and critical decisions. That is the responsibility of any university that takes its mission seriously.
Reconciliation is not a checkbox. It is a long, often uncomfortable journey that demands integrity and sacrifice. Cutting Indigenous programs—especially when course enrolment is strong—shows that for some, reconciliation was only ever about appearances.
But the rest of us must remember what’s truly at stake. This is not just about one program at one university. It is about who we are as a society and what we value. If we believe in the Canada we say we are building—one founded on respect, diversity, and reconciliation—then we must resist these cuts. We must demand that our universities live up to their highest ideals, not their lowest budgets.
Because what we choose to teach—or not teach—tells the next generation who we really are.
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/espaces-autochtones/2149507/universite-york-suspension-etudes-autochtones
