Dear colleagues,
WLUFA is committed to Indigenization and reconciliation and it holds the hiring of a minimum of six Indigenous faculty over the next three years as a primary objective. We secured important gains towards this end during the last round of bargaining and I am delighted to circulate the following summary made by Lianne Leddy, a member of the WLUFA team which was led by Azim Essaji and also included Jeffrey Aguinaldo, Bruce McKay, Sheila McKee-Protopapas, Joanne Oud and Glenda Wall. I want to assure all our members that the initiatives Lianne describes will remain our priority, especially in terms of faculty renewal, despite the turmoil caused by COVID-19.
David Monod
In its spring bargaining session, WLUFA was successful in negotiating several initiatives that advance its commitment to Indigenization and reconciliation. We are delighted that the University, through a letter of understanding, has committed to establishing a fund to hire up to six Indigenous faculty members over the next three years. Furthermore, the letter of understanding establishes a working group to support the development of the Indigenization Strategic Plan as it aligns with the role of faculty, which includes identifying revisions to the collective agreement that are necessary for Indigenization.
To that end, in this round of bargaining, we successfully negotiated changes to the collective agreement that recognize Indigenous pedagogies and research in tenure and promotion processes, as well as in faculty annual reports.
As a member of the negotiating team and an Indigenous faculty member, it was heartening to see WLUFA’s ongoing commitment through these important changes.
Lianne Leddy