Our Parallel Path, Annual Report 2023-24

“The colonial way is not the only way”

Dr. Terry Poucette, PhD, recently joined our faculty as director of Kiipitakyoyis (Grandmothers’ Lodge), where the new associate professor (teaching) will help lead the creation of FSW’s Indigenous Strategy and a new graduate certificate, Indigenous Ways of Knowing in Leadership. 

Poucette, who comes from the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. doesn’t promise it’s going to be an easy journey but says the payoff will be worth it in the end. “Reconciliation is easy to say, but it's not easy to do. Neither is decolonization,” she observes “Nobody said that reconciliation was going to be easy. It's not. It can get quite bumpy at times because decolonization and reconciliation will require changes to colonial mentalities, systems, processes and products. 

“Despite the challenges, I am pleased the faculty has embarked on this path because it is going to advance the Faculty of Social Work as an academic leader in decolonization, Indigenization and reconciliation.” 

Throughout her career, Poucette has never been afraid of a few bumps, including her most recent post leading the City of Calgary’s Indigenous Relations Office from its inception in January 2020. 

“What I kept saying at the City of Calgary and what I’m going to keep saying here is, ‘It’s not reconciliation if Indigenous people are doing it for you. Indigenous people will guide you, but it’s you that must take responsibility.”

Poucette, who has a diploma in social work, a bachelor’s degree in First Nations studies, and a master’s and PhD in public administration, joined the faculty at the beginning of 2024 when she was encouraged by Dean Ellen Perrault to apply to lead the Indigenous Lodge within the faculty.

She has also been involved in the design of new undergraduate and graduate courses focused on Canada’s colonial history and Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. 

“Indigenous curriculum will make students’ education definitely more fulsome and holistic,” says Poucette. “If social work graduates use colonial social work practices with Indigenous Peoples, it’s unlikely to work because they’re foreign. So, social work graduates need to know who Indigenous Peoples are, build respectful relationships, become culturally competent and learn to work with them effectively so that they can support the decolonization process and support their Indigenous clients with healing and recovery from the devastating and lasting effects of colonization.”