Ten years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its 94 Calls to Action as part of the federal government’s commitment to rebuilding its relationship with Indigenous peoples. The TRC emerged from the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement, which responded to Canada’s genocidal residential school system. 

These Calls to Action span all sectors of public life — from justice to education to health — and aim to address the intergenerational impacts of residential schools across institutions. As of 2025, reports have indicated that only 15 of the 94 calls have been fully implemented. 

Several of the TRC’s calls directly relate to post-secondary institutions. Call 11 urges the federal government to provide universities with the resources needed to enroll more Indigenous students. Call 16 calls for courses and programs in Indigenous languages. Call 62 focuses on integrating Indigenous education into teachers’ training, and Call 65 pushes for funding to advance research on reconciliation. 

“Answering the Call”

In 2017, U of T students, staff, faculty, and Elders published “Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin Final Report of the Steering Committee for the University of Toronto.” The report outlines dozens of actionable initiatives under six themes: Indigenous Spaces; Indigenous Faculty and Staff; Indigenous Curriculum; Indigenous Research Ethics and Community Relationships; Indigenous Students and Indigenous Co-Curricular Education; and Institutional Leadership/Implementation. 

One of the lead advisors was the late Lee Maracle, a Stó:lō Nation writer, teacher, activist, and member of U of T’s Elders Circle. That same year, she helped organize the university’s first pow wow with Indigenous studies students.

The report’s preface acknowledges U of T’s long history as a site of oppression for Indigenous peoples, noting that the university educated generations of leaders, policymakers, teachers, and bureaucrats who expanded the residential schools system. It situates the university within a broader settler culture on Turtle Island and commits U of T to the greater inclusion of Indigenous people, perspectives, and worldviews into academic and campus life.

The 34 U of T-specific Calls to Action include establishing an Indigenous Advisory Council — similar to those at western Canadian universities — hiring more Indigenous faculty and staff, creating dedicated Indigenous spaces across all three campuses, and regularly assessing the university’s progress on these goals.

Since 2019, U of T’s annual progress reports have outlined efforts to implement these commitments. They highlight new hires of Indigenous faculty and staff, spotlight initiatives and community events, faculty-specific accountability measures, and track the development of dedicated Indigenous spaces such as Ziibiing, a gathering place to reflect on Indigenous culture.

Across the reports, the Indigenous students, staff, faculty, and librarians have identified a common challenge: there are too few Indigenous faculty members to meet the demand for their involvement in projects and initiatives, placing an outsized burden on the limited number who are already at the institution. Other challenges include insufficient sustainable funding for long-term initiatives, limited administrative infrastructure to support Indigenous-focused projects, and a lack of Indigenous representation across numerous faculties and departments. 

Case study of Jackman Law

Cameron Smith, co-president of the Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA), wrote to The Varsity about how Indigenous students at Jackman Law have experienced these multi-year shifts at U of T. 

In light of potential scale-backs of diversity initiatives from Canadian law firms, Smith reflected on Jackman’s commitment to the various aspects of Indigenous students’ experience in the faculty. These include the development of a dedicated space for ILSA, the close relationship between students and the Indigenous Initiatives Office, and land-based education open to U of T, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Queen’s University. 

TRC Call 28 urges law schools to require that all students take a course on Indigenous peoples and the law. Smith highlighted the leadership of Professor John Borrows — an Anishinaabe/Ojibway legal scholar and Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law — who teaches the mandatory first-year Indigenous law course. 

For Smith, the mandatory course allows all law students to be on the same page with regard to Indigenous legal issues and helps reduce instances of racism among the student body. However, Smith noted that for Indigenous students, this class can still create disparities.

“While the opportunity to learn more about the histories of our peoples is incredibly important, it can still take an emotional toll on you that other students may not have to deal with,” Smith wrote to The Varsity. “I think that the faculty has done a good job communicating the supports available for students who may be affected by the material, but it’s still a barrier that Indigenous students face.”

ILSA’s mandate as a support and social group — providing cultural programming, community events, and career panels — helps students counter feelings of self-doubt and imposter syndrome, while also supporting their professional development.

ILSA’s recent work to take part in the Indigenous Bar Association, to learn from the Black Future Lawyers Program, and to expand its reach to Indigenous undergraduate students maintains its goals to help all Indigenous students know that Jackman is available to them. Smith reflected on the opposition to TRC by asking for an open mind from non-Indigenous students.

“Much of the Canadian history we have been taught has been one-sided, if not flat-out wrong. Carrying those misconceptions is not a personal failure, but a resistance to learning or to changing them is. Reconciliation begins with truth, and we all have a duty to understand what that truth is.”