Indigenizing the next decade of astronomy in Canada

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada published its calls to action in 2015 with 94 recommendations. Many of these 94 recommendations are directly related to education, language, and culture, some of which the Canadian Astronomy community can address and contribute to as part of reconciliation. The Canadian Astronomy community has an additional obligation since it benefits from facilities on Indigenous territories across Canada and the world. Furthermore, Indigenous people are still underrepresented at all levels in Canadian astronomy. The purpose of this Community Paper is to develop recommendations for the Canadian astronomy community to support Indigenous inclusion in the science community, support Indigenous learning by developing Indigenous-based learning materials and facilitate access to professionals and science activities, and to recognize and acknowledge the great contributions of Indigenous communities to our science activities. As part of this work we propose the ten following recommendations for CASCA as an organization and throughout this Community Paper we will include additional recommendations for individuals: astronomers, students and academics. The ten recommendations are: That CASCA partner with Indigenous organizations to support Indigenous education and diversity in astronomy and STEM. CASCA should collaborate with Indigenous language teachers and programs to develop astronomical learning material in Indigenous languages. This could be done through a dedicated CASCA committee on Indigenizing Astronomy. That CASCA collaborate with the National Research Council Herzberg, the Canadian Space Agency and other facilities to create programs in which a share of the telescope time is used for programs that promote education and inclusion for Indigenous and underrepresented people and schools in Canada and around the world. That CASCA expand the CASCA-Westar program, to fund training and support for volunteers and requires these programs to have multi-year plans to continually build and support connections with Indigenous communities and create long-lasting impact. That CASCA create scholarships and funding specifically for Indigenous peoples to participate in physics and astronomy. That CASCA advocate for diversity hiring initiatives at the postdoctoral and faculty level, and hold university policies to account. That CASCA should set targets to increase Indigenous participation at all levels of membership that are consistent with the general demographics and take actions to encourage greater involvement, including the creation of new membership categories. Detailed historical, political, social and cultural context about Indigenous peoples in lands where Canada uses facilities such as Hawaii, Arizona, Chile, Australia, South Africa and other regions needs to be available to any CASCA members in leadership positions. This could be done by producing training material including information about Indigenous peoples in Canada and the different regions of the world where the Canadian astronomy community is active. That CASCA funds the development of a diversity training program for faculty, post-docs and students that directly educates on issues regarding Indigeneity in Canada and in the world. That CASCA offers funding for students, post-docs and faculty to participate in diversity, equity, inclusion organizations such as caISEs, SACNAS, that promote the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in STEM. That CASCA becomes an example for other countries for its programs regarding Indigenizing astronomy and share its educational material around the world.

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