Session

Launched in 2022, the initiative focusing on the First Peoples’ transition to post-secondary education (CTESPP) is one of five undertaken by the task force on the transition to post-secondary education (PTES) in the Saguenay/Lac-St-Jean region. Supported by Québec’s department of post-secondary education (MES), the regional task force is a collaborative effort involving three CEGEPs (Chicoutimi, Jonquière and Saint-Félicien), the Collège d’Alma and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

In connection with this initiative, the initial work involved providing a regional portrait of the priority needs and challenges to be addressed, in addition to guiding individual projects with a view to optimizing transitions and initiating deeper transformations within the institutions from a perspective of inclusion, equity and social justice.

The workshop will focus on efforts underway to reduce obstacles to post-secondary education and to foster cultural safety and student retention. Examples will be shared of effective practices and tools used for transfer, intervention and awareness-raising purposes that have been put in place to achieve the following four goals set out in the initiative’s work plan:

• Ensure the First Peoples’ full participation in the initiative’s work.
• Collaborate on regional research projects with a view to maximizing transition-related benefits.
• Improve the representation of Indigenous students in post-secondary institutions.
• Promote the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in post-secondary institutions.

We will also be discussing issues encountered by the team in terms of progress made and collaborative solutions put forward.