Press Release
INDIGENOUS WATCHDOG: HAMILTON – June 14, 2024 – Of the 44 Schools of Social Work across Canada, 33 have addressed the three specific elements identified in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action # 1: 3, 4 and 5:
We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to commit to reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care by:
The main focus of the following table is which Schools of Social Work offer a MANDATORY course on the three items identified above: 3 4 and 5.
Social Work Schools
University | Mandatory Course | # of Topics | % of Topics | Description |
Algoma University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 4 courses |
First Nations University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | Multiple courses in 3 programs |
Laurentian University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 12 courses with Indigenous content in Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work |
Nicole Valley Inst. of Tech.1 | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 5 courses |
Nipissing University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 5 courses + integrated content in other courses |
Trent University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 3 courses + content integrated in other courses |
Thompson Rivers University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 3 courses |
Mount Royal University1 | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 3 courses |
Lakehead University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | BSW = Year 3; Honours BSW w/Major Concentration in Indig. Learning (4) |
University of Manitoba | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 3 courses |
St. Thomas University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | BSW: Intro course for applicants; Content integrated in multiple Upper Year courses |
Memorial University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | Content integrated in multiple courses |
University of Victoria | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | BSW = 2 courses; Child Welfare specialization = multiple |
Vancouver Island University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | Social Work practice = 1 course; Child Welfare specialization = multiple |
Carleton UNiversity | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course + content integrated in multiple courses |
Wilfrid Laurier University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 2 courses |
York University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | BSW = 2 courses; MSW = 1 course |
McGill University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 2 courses |
Toronto Metropolitan University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 2 courses |
University of Waterloo | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 2 courses |
Université de Saint-Boniface | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 2 courses |
University of Northern BC | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course +mandatory pre-registration for BSW & MSW |
University of Regina | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | BSW = 1 course; Pre-Social Work semester = 2 courses |
University of Toronto | No/Yes | BSW: O of 3 MSW: 3 of 3 | BSW = 0% MSW = 100% | Adv. & 2 yr. = 1 course; MSW: Indig. Trauma & Resilience=multiple |
Dalhousie University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course = 3 credits |
King’s University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course = Full course 5 .0 |
McEwan University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course in Year 3: 3 crdits |
McMaster University | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course: 3 units |
Université du Québec en Outaouais | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course |
University of BC -Vancouver | Yes | 3 OF 3 | 100% | 1 course |
University of BC -Okanagan | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course |
University of Calgary | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course |
University of Fraser Valley | Yes | 3 of 3 | 100% | 1 course – 3 credits |
Laurentian University | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | BSW: 1 elective course |
Université d’Ottawa | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | 3 optional courses; New program in Sept. 2024 |
Université de Moncton | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | 1 elective course |
Université de Québec à Chicoutimi | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | 3 optional courses |
Université de Montreal | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | 2 modules (3 Hours) mandatory in Fall 2024 |
Université de Québec à Montréal | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | 1 ourse on diversity and immigration |
Université de Québec à Rimouski | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | No Mandatory course |
Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | No mandatory course |
Université de Laval | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | 2 optional courses |
Université de Sherbrooke | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | No mandatory course |
University of Windsor | No | 0 of 3 | 0% | No mandatory course |
Very strong Indigenous focus to program | ||||
At least 2 mandatory courses and/or content integrated into multiple courses | ||||
One mandatory course with Indigenous content | ||||
Offer no mandatory Indigenous course |
The detailed information on how each school has responded to Call to Action # 1 can be found under Social Work Schools – English and Social Work Schools – French. Each document was sent to each of the Schools of Social Work for validation and approval before being posted to the Indigenous Watchdog website. Although 33 of the Schools did respond to our inquiries, the following 11 schools did not respond to our multiple inquiries for validation and approval so these documents have not been officially endorsed:
Of the above schools that did not respond, the seven highlighted above in BOLD were still ranked at 100% for completing the three elements of Call to Action # 1 based on information found on their respective websites.
11 Schools of Social Work (25%) have NOT implemented a mandatory course: 2 English and 9 French.
One main question based on the above responses is why Reconciliation is doing so poorly in Québec? Only 2 of the 11 École de travail social have a mandatory course or 18%. Of the 31 English schools who were approached, 81% have mandatory courses.
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