Toward Truth and Reconciliation: Building Allyship Between International Students and Indigenous Communities in Canada

• In Event: Centering Both the Who and the Where: Place, Space, and Belonging

Abstract

In recent years, there has been significant growth in the number of international students coming to Canada for educational and migration purposes. We—two racialized international students, use Ganz’s public narrative (2009) and informed grounded theory (Themelis et al., 2022) to explore the roles and responsibilities of international students in Canada’s journey to truth and reconciliation. From sharing stories of our engagement with Indigenous histories, we develop a collective narrative focusing on the failure of the Government of Canada and Canadian universities in educating (potential) migrants about Canada’s troubled histories and ongoing issues. We end our research with a framework to guide the development of an allyship between international students, universities, and Indigenous communities in Canada.

Authors

• Bich Ha Dong, University of Manitoba

• Cintia Cristina Cordeiro Damasceno, University of Manitoba