UCalgary launches URise Indigenous learning program for faculty, staff

The University of Calgary has launched URise Indigenous, a hybrid learning program that will teach faculty and staff to become “good relatives.” URise Indigenous focuses on enhancing participants’ learning and understanding of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures and worldviews. It consists of four courses, as well as opportunities for faculty and staff to discuss their own experiences and emotions. “We need to normalize these kinds of conversations,” said UCalgary Indigenous intercultural initiatives specialist Gerald Ratt. “Oftentimes, fear, shame and guilt emerge, and we’re often afraid of these feelings that oftentimes we avoid or dismiss the process of unlearning and relearning.”