2024-11-12

Survey for Honorarium Payments to Members of Indigenous Groups

Memorial University is committed to Indigenization in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation. There has been an increase in engaging with Elders and other Indigenous community leaders, especially under Memorial’s Research Impacting Indigenous Groups policy, raising questions about the Indigenous practice of reciprocity and gift giving and its implications on relational accountability.

There is an emerging trend across Canada of universities developing policies or guidelines around the payment of honoraria to Indigenous Elders, traditional Knowledge Keepers or members of Indigenous groups who are invited to participate in class presentations, research, conference panels, perform ceremonies and other university business. 

A Memorial working group is reviewing and providing guidelines for honoraria payment to members of Indigenous groups to ensure Indigenous Elders, traditional Knowledge Keepers and Indigenous community leaders who engage with the university are respectfully and fairly acknowledged and/or compensated in a timely manner. The working group has launched a survey to gather feedback. Visit the survey page here (MUN login is required). The survey will be available until Friday, Nov. 29.