At the May 27^th, 2017 Board meeting, the Board of Directors of CASWE-ACFTS committed to ensuring that social work education in Canada contributes to transforming Canada’s colonial reality and approved a “Statement of Complicity and Commitment to Change”. “This is an important step in engaging social work education in the reconciliation process and supporting the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action” affirms CASWE-ACFTS President, Dr. Susan Cadel

Statement of Complicity and Commitment to Change

1. acknowledge that colonizing narratives, policies, and practices have been, and continue to be, embedded in social work education, research, and practice
2. express deep regret for the harms experienced by Indigenous peoples and communities because of these colonizing narratives, policies, and practices
3. commit, within our individual spheres of influence, to act in ways that lessen and eventually end such harms, thereby opening spaces to offer genuine apologies
4. accept the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework to guide reconciliation efforts
5. reaffirm the importance of our collaborative relationship with Thunderbird Circle and develop initiatives to commemorate the strength, resiliency, and contribution of all Indigenous social work educators and students
6. will ensure a territorial acknowledgement is posted on the CASWE-ACFTS web site
7. will encourage institutional members to post a territorial acknowledgement on their School’s website and post a link to the CAUT guide to territorial acknowledgement on the CASWE-ACFTS website to assist Schools with this task
8. will encourage and support Canadian schools of social work in revising mission statements, governance processes, curriculum, and pedagogy in ways that both advance the TRC recommendations and the overall indigenization of social work education
9. will post, on the Association website, a list of resources to assist Schools in the above efforts
10. will periodically review the vision, mission, principles and activities of our Association to ensure we are advancing reconciliation
11. will seek to advance Article 14 (1) of UNDRIP through Memorandums of Understanding with relevant Indigenous institutions and programs
12. will ensure the planned revision of our educational policies and standards (EPAS2019)
13. incorporates current and comprehensive knowledge regarding the de-colonialization and indigenization of social work education including, but not necessarily limited to, the Calls to Action from the TRC, especially those related to child welfare, education, and health
14. recognizes the distinct nature of Indigenous social work and avoids positioning such social work within the context of multi-cultural or cross-cultural theory and practice.