WINNIPEG, MB—In view of the recent report calling Winnipeg “Canada’s most racist city,” The Student Association at the University of Winnipeg has come up with an idea. UWSA President Rorie McLeod announced that they are proposing making taking a course in Indigenous Studies a requirement for all incoming students. New students to the university would be required to take three credit hours in Indigenous history and culture. This is as much as a semester-long course. This would be mandatory in order to graduate.
If this proposal is approved, this would be the first of its kind in Canada.
“The Indigenous requirement is an expression of how we feel universities should operate,” McLeod stated. He believes that universities ought to operate as hubs of critical thought, “…to invest ourselves not only in an extracurricular sense, but also in our common curriculum towards these types of social problems.”
“Racism is unacceptable, bigotry is unacceptable and this requirement is not a solution to that, but it is within our powers. It’s very doable and ultimately it would be a step forward for the University of Winnipeg and Winnipeg in general,” the UWSA president stated.
