eCampusOntario Welcomes Indigenous Institute Board Directors
On September 18, eCampusOntario welcomed Indigenous Institute members to its Board of Directors, taking a significant step in support of its commitment to reconciliation, equity, decolonization, diversity and inclusion.
Rebecca Jamieson, President-CEO of Six Nations Polytechnic and Kim Falcigno, Vice-President, Oshiki-Pimache-O-Win, now serve as Directors to help better inform the organization’s support of Indigenous Institutes and long-term planning for the organization. Marsha Josephs, Executive Director, Indigenous Institutes Consortium joined as a non-voting representative in June.
“I am thrilled to support eCampusOntario and the future vision for technology-enabled learning in the Province of Ontario”, said Jamieson, who now also serves as Vice-Chair of the organization, “At such a critical inflection point for postsecondary education in Ontario, it will be important to advance the needs of those who experience resource inequity, and how we can use technology and innovation to help address the imbalance.”
On February 26, eCampusOntario member institutions voted in favour of changes to the organization’s by-laws to include Indigenous Institute members on its Board of Directors, receiving unanimous support. This past Wednesday, these new voting members joined for the first time.
“Welcoming our Indigenous Institute members means that now more voices are at the table,” said Ann Marie Vaughan, Chair of the eCampusOntario Board of Directors and President and CEO of Humber Polytechnic, “this is critical to ensuring that the vision for technology-enabled learning in Ontario is more complete.”
eCampusOntario, which is a consortium of Ontario’s 53 publicly-assisted universities, colleges and Indigenous Institutes, has six Indigenous Institutes within its membership. Jamieson and Falcigno now serve on the Board as their representatives.
“We are thrilled that the members have supported greater inclusion in our governance,” said Robert Luke, CEO, eCampusOntario, “This change is not only important for reconciliation, but also an opportunity to better serve our members and all Ontarians. It was clear we needed to do this as part of our work to decolonize governance, and ensure greater representation and participation by our province’s Indigenous Institutes.”
Over the preceding months, eCampusOntario worked with its members to recruit for the new positions created on the Board. The changes included a leadership sharing arrangement to ensure greater balance between colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes.
“The consultation process was of critical importance to ensuring the changes accommodated the needs of our Indigenous Institute members,” said Steven Murphy, Past-Chair of the eCampusOntario Board of Directors, “Five new positions have been created on the Board in support of an essential voice within our consortium.” Dr. Murphy is also the President & Vice-Chancellor of eCampusOntario member institution, Ontario Tech University.