A degree in social work at the University of Ottawa provides a unique opportunity for students to study a critical approach to intervention practices in the fields of health and family-childhood, while taking into account the current realities faced by francophones in a minority context.
Mission
The School is committed to training social workers who will work primarily in a minority Franco-Ontarian setting. All the same, the University of Ottawa has a long, distinguished tradition of welcoming Francophone students from all over Canada and internationally. We therefore offer training programs that pave the way for students to influence a wide range of milieux beyond local and regional boundaries.
In a sociocultural context, the School believes that plurality calls for openness to otherness and to differences in culture, income, religion, sexuality, gender and abilities. Moreover, it is essential to take into account the social dynamics linked to gender, income levels, race, age, sexual orientation and disability in order to eliminate multiple forms of intolerance, oppression, rejection, exclusion and marginalization. The theme of diversity has become the thread that links our programs as much in terms of approaches, practices and field placements as it does in research.
The School of Social Work also recognizes the self-determination of Indigenous peoples and calls into question injustices inflicted throughout Canada’s colonial history and continuing colonization.
Commitment of the School of Social Work to Truth and Reconciliation
The School of Social Work published a Strategic Plan from September 2020 to September 2022, titled “Cercle Kinistòtàdimin: Décolonisation de l’École de travail social”, whose main axes were:
- Increased recognition and cultural awareness in the academic environment.
- Consolidation of the Cercle Kinistòtàdimin
- Recruitment and retention of Aboriginal learners
- Culturally appropriate academic and financial support for native learners
- Aboriginal cultural sensitivity training for ÉTS faculty and support staff
- Development and integration of course content focused on Aboriginal ontology, epistemology, methodology and axiology into the social work discipline.
- Creation and development of ethically responsible research partnerships in Aboriginal contexts
- Improving internship opportunities in aboriginal communities
- Creation of partnerships with various community and institutional organizations (community centers, federal agencies, education councils, etc.).
- Welcome and support the new Anicinape-atikamekw teacher.
In the spirit of reparation, listening and reciprocity, the Kinistòtàdimin Circle (KC) and the School of Social Work (SSW) of the University of Ottawa (UO) – located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Omàmiwinini Algonquin Nation – have been committed since 2018 to the implementation of initiatives promoting the decolonization of the social work profession.
From September 25 to 30, 2023, the KC and the SSW encourage professors, students, educators and administrative staff to recognize the traumatic history experienced by more than seven generations of Indigenous families in Canada’s residential schools (1831 to 1996). To this day, the weight of this history continues to have an intergenerational impact on the daily experiences of many families living with the lingering aftermath of colonial policies.
According to Marie Wilson, Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC, 2015) and wife of a residential school survivor, healing must first and foremost involve transforming judgments into compassion. Education is a lever for achieving this goal, and a key to opening the door to dialogue and awareness of the tragedies of the past.
This week of commemoration offers a series of initiatives to honour the memory of survivors, to highlight their strength of character and resurgence in the face of adversity, and to ensure that these atrocities never happen again. The week also invites all those who reside in Canada not only to reflect on the history of residential schools, but to take action, including educating themselves, committing to engaging with the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action, and joining with Indigenous communities and organizations to resist the effects and impacts of colonialism that persist to this day.
Below, the SSW and KC have provided a list of resources and events that will be taking place in and around the Ottawa-Gatineau region. We encourage everyone to join us in participating.
Semaine de la vérité et de la réconciliation | Faculté des sciences sociales (uottawa.ca)
TRC Call to Action # 1
We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to commit to reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care by:
- Monitoring and assessing neglect investigations
- Providing adequate resources to enable Aboriginal communities and child-welfare organizations to keep Aboriginal families together where it is safe to do so, and to keep children in culturally appropriate environments, regardless of where they reside.
- Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the history and impacts of residential schools.
- Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the potential for Aboriginal communities and families to provide more appropriate solutions to family healing.
- Requiring that all child-welfare decision makers consider the impact of the residential school experience on children and their caregivers.
Mandatory Course: 0
Optional courses:
SVS 3555 – Social work with Indigenous populations
SVS 3570 – Summer School: Social Intervention in Indigenous Environments
SVS 4570 – Indigenous Child and Family Services
B.Sc.Soc. spécialisé Service social < uOttawa
New: microprogram
In September 2024, the university is offering a microprogram entitled Microprogram in Indigenous Family-Child Services Development – Foundations for Practice| Mizimizide nanda kikenindjigani pagidinigewin ondje Wìyagi iji Anishinàbe Odeg Abinòdjìnshi Wìdòkàzowin (3 courses over one year, 9 credits)
Faculty of Social Work Commitment to Call to Action # 1: 3, 4 and 5: 0 out of 3 = 0%
| 3 | History and impact of residential schools (theory) |
| No. Not explicitly addressed. | |
| 4 | Potential for Aboriginal communities and families to provide more appropriate solutions to family healing (practice) |
| No. Not explicitly addressed. | |
| 5 | All child welfare decision makers consider the impact of the residential school experience on children and their caregivers |
| No. Not explicitly addressed. |
Compliance with CASWE/ACFTS Statement of Complicity and Commitment to Change
| At the May 27th, 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. Of the 12 actions articulated in the “Statement of Complicity and Commitment to Change, the following two are directed at Schools of Social Work |
| 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 |
| (…)the Kinistòtàdimin Circle (KC) and the School of Social Work (SSW) of the University of Ottawa (UO) – located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Omàmiwinini Algonquin Nation (…)Semaine de la vérité et de la réconciliation | Faculté des sciences sociales (uottawa.ca) Land acknowledgement only on the French version of the School of Social Work’s webpage: Nous rendons hommage au peuple algonquin, gardien traditionnel de cette terre. Nous reconnaissons le lien sacré de longue date l’unissant à ce territoire qui demeure non cédé. Nous rendons également hommage à tous les peuples autochtones qui habitent Ottawa, qu’ils soient de la région ou d’ailleurs au Canada. Nous reconnaissons les gardiens des savoirs traditionnels, jeunes et âgés. Nous honorons aussi leurs courageux dirigeants d’hier, d’aujourd’hui et de demain.https://www.uottawa.ca/faculte-sciences-sociales/programmes/premier-cycle/sequences-cours/specialise-service-social | |
| 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 |
| Yes, as mentioned by Kinistòtàdimin Circle (CK) |
| NOTE: All content has been submitted to the respective faculty for validation to ensure accuracy and currency as of the time of posting. The University of Ottawa School of Social Work reviewed and approved the document. Managing Editor: Douglas Sinclair: Publisher, Indigenous Watchdog Lead Researcher, Julia Dubé |