The Story of ii’ taa’poh’to’p: University of Calgary’s Journey Towards an Indigenous Strategy

This book is a kind of how-to guide. It recounts the process that led to the development and implementation of the University of Calgary’s 2019 Indigenous Strategy, which is available on the University’s website as a 29 page PDF. The Strategy sets out a framework for the actions the University is taking and will take as it decolonizes itself and becomes a more equitable institution.

The Strategy includes what it calls, the four visionary circles: Ways of Knowing (Teaching, Learning, and Research), Ways of Doing (Policies, Procedures, and Practices), Ways of Connecting (Relationships, Partnerships, Connections to Land, and Place), and Ways of Being (Campus Identity, Inclusivity, Leadership, and Engagement). Each circle has a set of actions. For example, for Ways of Knowing those are: Decolonizing Research, Building Indigenous Research Capacity, Preserving Indigenous Cultures, and Decolonizing Programs and Curricula.

Yes, the Strategy is a framework with a Statement of Principles, categories of organization, and levels of action and theory. What makes it an Indigenous Strategy is how it interconnects, bringing all the pieces together in relationship via process – and story. The Story of ii’ taa’poh’to’p, in fact, contains story after story after story, echoing oral tradition, grounding the connections in shared, overlapping narratives.

The Story of ii’ taa’poh’to’p, in fact, contains story after story after story, echoing oral tradition, grounding the connections in shared, overlapping narratives.

But let’s be honest. The story of the creation of a framework is not an exciting story. The entire project is important, earnest, and often deeply moving, but dramatic it is not. Integrating Indigenous culture and ways of knowing into the administration of a contemporary Canadian university is a big deal, but it’s a challenge to make interesting. The casual reader will not find a lot to get a hold of here. Those who are attempting to decolonize other institutions, however, should find inspiration in these rich pages.

Those who are attempting to decolonize other institutions, however, should find inspiration in these rich pages.

The authors of the book are known as the Grandparents of ii’ taa’poh’to’p. They are a collective of leaders from diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences who guided the development of the Indigenous Strategy at the University of Calgary. They include Shawna Cunningham, Jacqueline Ottmann, Jackie Sieppert, Dru Marshall, and Reg Crowshoe.

Publisher: University of Calgary Press (June 15, 2025)
Paperback: 9″ x 6″ | 248 pages
ISBN: 9781773856278

Michael Bryson

Michael Bryson has been reviewing books since the 1990s in publications such as The Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Paragraph Magazine, Id Magazine, and Quill & Quire. His short story collections include Thirteen Shades of Black and White (1999) and The Lizard and Other Stories (2009). His fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Stories and other anthologies. His story Survival is available as a Kindle single. From 1999-2018, he oversaw 78 issues of fiction, poetry, reviews, author interviews, essays, and other features at The Danforth Review. He lives in Scarborough, Ontario, and blogs at Art/Life: Scribblings.