Walking the Decolonization Talk: Reckoning with the Past and Wrestling with the Present to Reimagine the Future of Social Work Education in Nunavik

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada calls for closing education gaps between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Canadians as part of the real work of reconciliation, that is, walking the decolonization talk. In Nunavik, a part of Inuit Nunangat, addressing these education gaps is complex, requiring trust building between educational institutions and Inuit communities. In Nunavik’s 14 communities, there are only two Inuit who hold Bachelor of Social Work degrees. Establishing or rebuilding trust is extraordinarily difficult given ongoing colonial policies and institutional structures that disregard Inuit experience. This article describes the journey of developing a Bachelor of Social Work degree program in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, to be called Inulirijiit, in the context of the history of social welfare for Nunavimmiut and how Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2008–2015) and the Public Inquiry Commission on Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Certain Public Services in Québec (Viens Commission, 2019) have shaped contemporary social work education and practice. We argue that the Bachelor of Social Work degree program must have at its center Inuit ways of knowing, learning, teaching, and being.