Sask. Poly should have identity verification for Indigenous staff: Provincial auditor

As headlines keep coming out about prominent people whose Indigenous identities have come into question, Saskatchewan’s provincial auditor believes Saskatchewan Polytechnic needs to protect itself from just such a problem.

“It’s a matter of just some of the risks and, as you’ve probably seen as of late, there can be staff that are representing as such and are not actually Indigenous,” auditor Tara Clemett said earlier this week.

Sask. Poly president Dr. Larry Rosia said the school doesn’t have a verification process for staff in positions reserved for Indigenous people right now; it works on a self-declaration system for students and staff. But Rosia said that’s something the school is working on.

“On the recommendations of the auditor we will build policies around that and make sure that we put together a plan that is well-thought out and fair to everyone,” he said.

Rosia said that will be part of the next five-year plan the school is working on; he’s expecting it to be in place for the next academic year.

The recommendation on identity verification was one of a small handful of recommendations the auditor made around the school’s Indigenous Student Success program.

The program is meant to make sure Indigenous students are graduating and being successful at Sask. Poly.

The auditor found Indigenous enrolment dropped 30 per cent from 2019 to 2021 and felt the school should know why.

“We’re in the process of looking at that now and really trying to investigate the real causes,” said Rosia, explaining that school officials do have some ideas on why things happened.

“In order to get it right, we need to make sure we spend the time to really consult with students and with stakeholders to really find out what those root causes are so that we can put appropriate actions in place to remedy them.”

Rosia said the recommendations will all be incorporated into the upcoming plan.

The provincial auditor’s recommendations for Sask. Poly are to:

• “Expand performance measures’ targets to evaluate whether its strategies support Indigenous student
  success. We found there are no targets around Indigenous student enrolment and program retention
  rates and both declined since 2019;”
• “Conduct ongoing Indigenous community engagement and consultation to encourage enrolment and to report results on its Indigenous student successes;” and
• “Verify Indigenous identity of staff in Indigenous designated positions beyond using only self identification”