Indigenous Cultural Competency and Trauma Informed Training: Questions for Indigenous Student Validation


The purpose of identifying Indigenous students is in recognition of the disparities and indelible violence experienced by many Indigenous peoples and as such, to assist our programs in offering better supports as part of our responsibilities to Truth and Reconciliation and Treaty Rights.


Participant Information


Questions for Indigenous Student Validation

There are many ways to verify Indigenous Identity. There is also a long history of assimilation, disconnection from community, and traumatic experiences associated with reclaiming Indigenous identity. In recognition of these struggles, we hope to be as inclusive as possible by asking a series of questions that span a wide range of ways to verify Indigenous Identity. Please choose what you are most comfortable with.

Provide details of your community affiliation. For example, do you prefer to self-identify according to your Nation or other description? Examples may include but are not limited to: Anishnawbe, Cree, Haudenosaunee, Ojibway, Inuk, or Cree-Metis.

We hope to be as Inclusive as possible in asking for verification. Many Indigenous people have refused to use Status Cards or other government issues verification processes in protest to the violent assimilation of Indigenous peoples and subsequent destruction of kinship and community connections. Many Indigenous people who want access to government identification have also been denied the right to be verified by the Government through forceful assimilation practices and now may experience struggles navigating processes like status card applications. The next series of questions aim to provide many ways of verifying Indigenous identity. Please choose the ones you feel most comfortable using.

To uphold traditional protocols of identifying family kinship, if you do not have formal ID that shows your ancestry, you can provide a description of the First Nation, Inuit community or Métis settlement that your family is/was attached to.


Informal Documentation

If you do not have government ID, please upload any informal documentation that would assist us in verifying Indigenous Identity. This can include letters or documents from Indigenous organizations, ancestral census records, genealogy etc.


If you would prefer to be interviewed via Zoom to discuss your Indigenous identity verification please enter your email here.