University of Saskatchewan vice-provost of Indigenous engagement Jacqueline Ottmann, left, and Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Culbertson, right, recently signed a memorandum of understanding to measure the university’s progress of treaty education implementation. Photo courtesy Office of Treaty Commissioner Facebook page

A newly signed agreement will measure how well the University of Saskatchewan is doing in implementing treaty education and promoting reconciliation.

The university’s Office of Indigenous Engagement has signed the memorandum of understanding with the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, which will provide the evaluation.

OTC director of reconciliation and community partnerships, Rhett Sangster, said his office will measure the university’s accomplishment in four key areas.

“We need to understand our history, we need to have authentic relationships with each other, we need to have vibrant cultures and worldviews and then we need to have our systems work for everybody,” he said. 

The agreement will also see both bodies work together to increase Indigenous accessibility to post-secondary education, participation in university decision-making circles and graduation rates.

Other goals include commitments to promote the calls to justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

Sangster said the Office of the Treaty Commissioner will be examining a number of things as part of its evaluation.

“We will be working with the university to measure their own plans and their own outcomes and trying to find out indicators and ways that we can collect data. To see how are they doing in terms of implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the calls to action (of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission).”