Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for the invitation to speak today. My name is Dr. Angela Jaime. I'm the vice-provost of indigenous engagement at the University of Saskatchewan. I'm here to share with you the University of Saskatchewan's deybwewin-taapwaywin-tapwewin indigenous truth policy. This policy is the first of its kind in Canada at a post-secondary institution. It is for the verification of indigenous membership and citizenship documentation.

USask has more than 27,000 students, and nearly 4,000 of those students are indigenous. Our policy's purpose is to protect indigenous-specific spaces designed and designated for indigenous people. The core value of the policy is principles over personalities.

Part of our policy very clearly states:

Verification documentation will be required for all incoming assertions of Indigenous membership/citizenship by members of the university community where that claim may result in a material advantage or where the absence of verification would be otherwise contrary to the principles recognized in this policy.

Our policy is not only about identity. We don't use this terminology anywhere in the policy. It is about who claims you. The university is also not the adjudicator of the documents we accept. It is the inherent sovereign right of indigenous people to determine their own membership and citizenship. We listen to indigenous governments, and they tell us what documentation they want us to accept from their members or citizens. We follow what they intend us to accept from Inuit, Métis and first nations people in Canada.

Any student or employee at the University of Saskatchewan seeking a material advantage—whether that be an award, a scholarship or funding—is required to proceed through our verification process. Our portal system, designed in-house, collects the information and stores the documentation for review and verification. My office is the only office that does that verification.

Our policy is part of our larger intention to decolonize the institution. Through our indigenous strategy ohpahotân-oohpaahotaan, we are committed to ensuring that indigenous space and resources go to indigenous people. This is about being proactive on indigenous verification, as opposed to reactive to fraudulent claims of membership and citizenship.

Thank you very much for your time.

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