Special adviser hopes new position will help combat racism at University of Saskatchewan

Verna St. Denis knows her new job at the University of Saskatchewan will be challenging, but important.

On Jan. 21, St. Denis, a member of the Beardy's & Okemasis' Cree First Nation and an internationally known scholar, was seconded to the position of special adviser to the president on anti-racism and anti-oppression.

St. Denis has been a faculty member at the university's college of education since 1992.

"Racism is not peculiar to the University of Saskatchewan," St. Denis said. "It's not just incidents here and there. It's about space and who exercises and what exercises entitlement of belonging."

The position was created after university president Peter Stoicheff released a statement and action plan this summer targeting racism on campus. Stoicheff has instituted training in unconscious bias for all senior administration and added a new equity, diversion and inclusion strategy.

The university has been criticized over racism and lack of reform in the past. 

In August, a letter from the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association said at least nine First Nations and Métis professors had left in the past five years over frustrations surrounding racism and the slow pace of reforms.

St. Denis said her new position will address some of those issues.

"I think it's been a concern over a period of time," she said. "[The position] was developed as an additional way to address racism and oppression that exist in our society, including the university."

St. Denis says the position was created after consultation with the community, and she will likely begin her work looking at how racism affects faculty and academic work. 

"I think it involves a program of learning and really exploring the history of racialization, exploring how a racial ideology ... mobilized policies and practices that legitimized or justified unequal treatment," she said. 

"We need to do that, first of all, by understanding the history of racial thinking."

While she admits the work is not easy, St. Denis is optimistic about change coming from younger generations.

"I see a growing interest, a growing interest in an understanding," she said.

"I think these issues are at the forefront for younger folks, and they want to be part of the solution and they want to do that through education."

St. Denis says the position is a good step in combating the larger issue of racism in society.

"I think that there's been a denial or a resistance to acknowledge a problem," she said.

"So, I think acknowledging it is the first step, and president Stoicheff did that in June. Now it's on the table and we can  begin to address it."