Welcome to the School of Social Work at the University of Windsor where we educate the social work leaders of tomorrow. Our Faculty is dedicated to generating knowledge and educating advocates for individuals, families, and communities around the world. Our faculty are internationally renowned for excellence in education, scholarship, research, and we take as our mandate the most vulnerable in society. Graduates of the School of Social Work are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and dedication to make a critical contribution on a regional, provincial, national, and international scale to enhance the well-being of all citizens.

Mission Statement

The mission of the School of Social Work is to promote social justice through quality professional education, advocacy, community partnerships, and the development and dissemination of knowledge through enquiry.

Vision

The School’s commitment of social justice and its mandate in social work education finds its roots in the profession’s historical commitment to serve the interests of oppressed and vulnerable populations and a set of fundamental values stated in the profession’s Code of Ethics.

This mandate is realized in the preparation of students with knowledge, research and practice intervention skills to assume professional and leadership roles to eradicate systemic barriers which oppress persons and disenfranchised populations. Principles of justice find their meaning here in a fundamental belief in the dignity of all persons, the importance of access of citizens to participate, and striving for a more equitable distribution of our society’s resources in the interest of promoting quality of life for all citizens.

School of Social Work Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation

Faculty of Social Work does not make any explicit commitment to Truth and Reconciliation

The University of Windsor, however, released “Report of the Senate Working Group on Benchmarking the University of Windsor in relation to Universities Canada 13 Principles on Indigenous Education”

This document expresses the University of Windsor’s renewed commitment to hear the voices of Indigenous communities and embrace their perspectives, history, knowledge and contributions. One of the 12 recommendations is:

• The University of Windsor should develop a sustainable strategy to indigenize and decolonize its curricula, particularly those of disciplines identified by the TRC Calls to Action. See Appendix 1 concerning Strategies for indigenizing and decolonizing the curriculum undertaken by other Canadian universities.

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: 

1. Monitoring and assessing neglect investigations
2. 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.
3. Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the history and impacts of residential schools.
4. 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.
5. Requiring that all child-welfare decision makers consider the impact of the residential school experience on children and their caregivers.

Mandatory Course: 

No. No course identified

See Course Sequences | School of Social Work (uwindsor.ca)

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
	Located on the Indigenous Initiatives section of the University of Windsor websiteThe University of Windsor sits on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, which includes the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. We respect the longstanding relationships with First Nations people in this place in the 100-mile Windsor-Essex peninsula and the straits – les détroits – of Detroit.
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
	No. Not explicitly addressed

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 Windsor School of Social Work DID NOT RESPOND to multiple Indigenous Watchdog inquiries. Managing Editor: Douglas Sinclair: Publisher, Indigenous Watchdog Lead Researcher, Timothy Maton, Ph.D