**1. Introduction**

What would a sustainable world look like if global humanity had gotten everything *right*? It is difficult to imagine the kinds of world governments, legal systems, trade, transportation, and education systems that would have emerged around the world. What does sustainability even mean? One of the most well-known explanations of sustainable development came from the Brundtland Commission, in *Our Common Future*, which said: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [1] (p. 41). There are many scientists and other scholars who believe we are failing in this effort [2]. It seems a monumental challenge to pursue sustainable lifestyles in light of the reality of the human desire to have more than is needed, to accumulate wealth and power, and to control lands, resources, and citizenry. One wonders if it is even possible to slow or reverse our nature to be unsustainable. In Canada, the legacy of colonization built on exploitation and wealth generation has entrenched a legacy of unsustainable consumerism. Despite this, traditional teachings of Indigenous peoples across Canada contain unique philosophical worldviews about sustainability and continue to be upheld by their respective communities. Examination of the Western concept of sustainability in relation to Indigenous perspectives reveals how Indigenous knowledges can generate community and landbased resiliency and decolonize intergenerational knowledge transmission. Subsequently, post-secondary education institutions can become important sites across Canada where Indigenization is recognized as consistent with the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainability.

**Citation:** Vizina, Y.N. Decolonizing Sustainability through Indigenization in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions. *Societies* **2022**, *12*, 172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ soc12060172

Academic Editor: Ranjan Datta

Received: 27 October 2022 Accepted: 21 November 2022 Published: 22 November 2022

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**Copyright:** © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

In Canada, Indigenous peoples are inclusive of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit under the *Constitution Act of Canada, 1982* [3]. First Nations and Inuit occupied traditional territories across Canada for millennia before colonization. Métis emerged as a Nation in the generations following colonization. The biological lineages of Métis people are acknowledged as having come from First Nations and European ancestors, but who came to be recognized as a distinct culture of people. Indigenous peoples' traditions are often based on ancestral teachings about relationships with non-human ancestors or relations within the natural world. As such, Indigenous peoples believe maintaining life support systems is essential not only for humans but also for all living things, and subsequently, try to honour these teachings in contemporary life. Interpreting environmental issues through Indigenous worldviews, whether First Nations, Métis, Inuit, or otherwise, requires thinking beyond mechanistic scientific methods and theories, social theories, and colonial legal processes to consider relationships among human and non-human elements of nature. My identity as a Métis person often gives me strength and insight into the need to honour the biological and cultural gifts of all my ancestors.

As an Indigenous educator and member of the Métis Nation, I have studied relationships between Indigenous worldviews and science education in Kindergarten–Grade 12 schools for some time [4,5]. I also spent time working for Métis Nation political authorities on environmental issues. During these years, I lamented how few published Indigenous science resources were available for use in schools or in other forums where evidence-based knowledge was influential. In my research, I set out to explore the linkages among Indigenous knowledges and sustainable development in post-secondary institutions (hereafter referred to as PSE) [6]. For decades, Indigenous peoples have called for Western education systems, and other elements of society, to decolonize as a process of undoing and repairing some of the damage to Indigenous peoples.

Decolonization, however, does not mean and has not meant a total rejection of all theory or research or Western knowledge. Rather, it is about centering our concerns and world views and then coming to know and understand theory and research from our own perspectives and for our own purposes. [7] (p. 39)

Colonization and decolonization are more than a physical expression of habitation, they are also the connective intellectual, spiritual, and ethical systems of complex human social systems.

Expressing decolonized knowledge can also ensure that marginalized voices of all Indigenous persons, including men, women, youth, elders, and folks from the two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual communities are heard. Expanding the human range of thought is reliant upon many voices and perspectives that will contribute to our collective energy and ability to problem-solve.

At one time, sustainability was thought of primarily in the physical terms of environmental conservation. It began with a recognition that humans are overexploiting, polluting, and destroying the natural world faster than it can recover. Thomas Malthus put forward an environmental limits theory in 1798, in which he predicted limits to economic growth and food security because of resource scarcity caused by the growing human population and a limited amount of good agricultural land [8,9]. In 1962, Rachel Carson published *Silent Spring* on the effects of environmental toxins, and in 1968, Paul Ehrlich published *The Population Bomb* on connections among the human population, resource exploitation, and the environment [10].

Over time, broader scholarly attention to environmental degradation, development, and economics grew and branched into a variety of ideological streams, such as ecotheology, eco-feminism, and eco-socialism, each with particular points of view, histories, and recommendations for action. Academic disciplines concerned with environmental economics, deep ecology, and social ecology, among others, have also taken shape contributing to the development of over 67 sectoral sustainability assessment tools relevant to, for example, innovation, technology, human development, market economies, ecosystems, products, cities and other geographic areas, and energy [8,11].

Globalization has changed the way humans live and consume, resulting in a relational need for a commitment to slow or reverse, our damaging presence on Earth. Over the past few decades, individuals and governing authorities have expanded the meaning and definition of sustainability to be inclusive of social, economic, and environmental elements, which then led the global community to develop and implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and Goals [1,12]. Decolonization of sustainability is not a process of undoing entire systems that will return us to pre-colonial times in Canada, but rather it can be understood as a systemic process of re-shaping how we, and the generations to come, can think, live, and thrive on a healthy planet.

In my research [6], it was my contention that if similarities existed between the purpose and goals of environmental sustainability and Indigenous knowledges, then PSE institutions could become important sites across Canada where Indigenization is recognized as consistent with the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainability. In this regard, I came up with a series of questions that would help me explore my contention. I wanted to know how PSE places of learning serving Indigenous learners addressed environmental sustainability. I wanted to know what Indigenous philosophical principles concerning the environment and interconnectedness in relation to sustainability could be found in PSE. I wanted to know how curriculum, research, facility operations, institutional governance processes, and community outreach were linked to sustainability through practice and policy in PSE. Finally, I wanted to know how sustainability was practiced in PSE, and what policies drove those practices.
