Creating still waters: Calming colonizing undercurrents in higher education curricula through cross-epistemic dialogue

Post-secondary institutions in Canada face an urgent need to advance reconciliation through pedagogical practices that respect diverse epistemologies and dismantle colonial structures. This study explores the Role of Practitioners in Indigenous Wellness (RPIW) learning program at the University of Saskatchewan as a model of cross-epistemic collaboration leading to reconciliation education programming. Developed in collaboration with Indigenous communities, Elders, health providers, scholars and community members, the RPIW program integrates Indigenous pedagogies and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations’ Cultural Responsiveness Framework to foster culturally responsive health professional education. Using a cross-epistemic methodological approach grounded in Ermine’s (2007) concept of “ethical space,” the research examines the relationships, commitments and fundamental truths that sustain this program. Data were collected through conversations with Core Developers of the RPIW learning program to understand how ethical spaces are created and nurtured. Findings explore a web of emergent themes that together generate foundations of ethical relationships. The themes are organized under five headings: humility and acknowledgement of gift of knowledge; strength, patience, resoluteness; reciprocal learning, circle process, growth; trust, safe space, and dismantling hierarchies; and shared vision, common values, and reaffirmed solidarity. Findings highlight themes of humility, resoluteness, reciprocal learning, reaffirmed solidarity, and trust as foundational to creating reconciliative educational environments. This case offers insights for institutions seeking to implement reconciliation-focused curriculum initiatives that honor Indigenous sovereignty, voice, and promote epistemic justice.