U of M strike: Faculty blasts administration on Indigenous studies record
The union representing faculty at the University of Manitoba says Indigenous scholars have been betrayed by senior administration.
The University of Manitoba Faculty Association has been on strike for two weeks. So far mediation has failed, and conciliation ended unsuccessfully on Sunday.
The two sides have been in discussions since March, when the last collective agreement expired.
UMFA says the administration has made bold promises to support Indigenous scholarship but has instead poured resources into public relations and salaries, neglecting Indigenous studies.
Administration at the school is “top-heavy and out of touch,” the faculty association said in a news release Monday.
Frank Deer, acting executive lead for Indigenous achievement at the University of Manitoba, acknowledged staffing challenges in the Native studies department but said the university has created special funds, including a $750,000 non-research fund earmarked for Indigenous achievement.
“I know that, like many other departments at the university, Native studies has had some challenges in staffing,” said Deer.
“We have a strong commitment to Indigenous studies.”
Deer also defended the size of the University of Manitoba’s administration.
“Large U15 institutions [Canadian research universities] with 80 academic units and many other administrative units require some form of management in order to manage operations,” he said.
Niigaan Sinclair, associate professor and acting head of Native studies, compared the administration to the bureaucracy at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
Sinclair’s department teaches 1,000 undergraduates annually, the release said. The number of Indigenous faculty at the university is comparable to a much smaller institution like Brandon University, the faculty association said.
Deer said the university is not happy with the ratio of professors to students and said the school has created six new professor positions in the last year to try to correct the imbalance.
According to the University of Manitoba, the school has one of the largest Indigenous student populations in Canada, with more than 2,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit students, including more than 180 graduate students.