Can students engage in meaningful reconcili-action from within a settler-colonial university system?

Increasingly, universities have been seen as sites for practicing decolonization work. Examples include the introduction of Land-based curricula, tribal relationship building, and the offering of critical Indigenous studies courses. However, universities remain spaces with deep colonial foundations. This paper offers a description of the challenges and insights gained through attempted decolonial reconcili-action work within this imperfect environment. We critically examine the conception, implementation and lasting impact of a course offered at Western Washington University (WWU), located in Washington State on the ancestral territory of the Lummi and Nooksack peoples. The “Socio-ecology and Reconcili-action in the Northern Salish Sea” course wove together Land-based learning and relationship-building to engage students in reconciliation. We worked specifically with the ɬaʔəmen (Tla’amin) Nation, located in British Columbia, and included classroom and virtual work in Bellingham and a field trip to the Nation’s traditional territory near qathet Regional District (so called Powell River). Two settler students and a settler instructor reflect on the course through a series of reflexive vignettes culminating in a list of learning commitments: to learn from a diversity of peoples, especially Indigenous community members; to learn with gratitude, respect, and reciprocity, and without fear of making mistakes; and to actively apply our knowledge to further reconciliation and decolonization. These commitments are offered as a starting point for other members of the higher education community who recognize their responsibility to advance reconciliation and decolonization.