Tricky Grounds: Indigenous Women's Experiences in Canadian University Administration

Since the release of the TRC’s 2015 report, universities have created new Indigenous policies and roles—many of which are carried by Indigenous women. Tricky Grounds examines what it means to be tasked with Indigenizing Western institutions that have not meaningfully transformed.
Drawing on her own experience and the stories of Indigenous women in senior university roles, Candace Brunette-Debassige explores the “triple bind” they face within colonial, Eurocentric, and male-dominated environments. She highlights the emotional and gendered labour placed on Indigenous women when institutions rush to Indigenize without doing the deeper work of decolonization. Through a decolonial Indigenous feminist lens, Brunette-Debassige shows how Indigenous women enact agency, resist colonial pressures, and help drive real structural change—offering a model for meaningful reconciliation and Indigenization in Canadian universities.