FREE EQUITY TRAINING: Revealing and Reimagining Worldview Hierarchies in Post-Secondary Education
What purpose does worldview hierarchy play in higher education, and to what end?
In many ways, academia relies on hierarchical worldviews to validate its own systems of knowledge, authority, and legitimacy. These hierarchies are deeply shaped by colonization, which continues to inform how we define success, productivity, and belonging in academic spaces. Colonization and its symptoms, such as systemic racism and ableism, have been insidious, and while we all operate within these systems, they do not impact us equally. Students who are the first in their families to attend post-secondary education often face unnecessary barriers rooted in unspoken norms and assumptions about what counts as “good” scholarship or learning.
This session invites participants to critically examine how colonial worldviews and hierarchies show up in their teaching and learning environments. The first 45 minutes will offer an exploration of how colonization shapes ideas of success and productivity in post-secondary institutions. The second half will be an interactive, hands-on session where participants apply these insights to a syllabus, reflecting on readings, grading structures, and classroom practices.
Participants will have the opportunity to leave with a clearer understanding of how worldview hierarchies shape academic culture, along with practical tools and guiding questions to support their efforts in reorienting their work and minds.
All CUPE 3908 Members, TUFA Members, Trent Students, and community members are welcome to attend this free workshop. All knowledge levels are welcome.
Meet Your Facilitator:
Larissa Crawford (she/elle) proudly passes on Métis and Jamaican ancestry to her daughters, Zyra and Ātea. She is a published Indigenous, anti-racism, and climate justice researcher, policy advisor, and restorative circle keeper with over 16 years of experience across government, academia, and community. Larissa graduated Summa Cum Laude from York University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Development and Communication Studies, earning the university’s highest leadership awards while balancing academics and parenthood. Her early education in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals brought her to UN events internationally, where she examined global frameworks for data collection and policy. At York University, she later led the York Student Identity Census, setting a precedent for race-based data collection in higher education.
Her policy and advising career includes roles such as Indigenous Policy Advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Northern Development, and Mines, where she advanced duty-to-consult frameworks, and at the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate, where she co-led the Ontario Public Service Anti-Racism Competency and Capacity Building Program. She has also contributed to climate and energy justice strategies with Natural Resources Canada and advised national fellowship programs such as Indigenous Youth Roots’ Indigenous Policy School and Vancouver Foundation’s LEVEL Youth Policy Program. These are only examples of her broader portfolio; Larissa has worked with higher education institutions internationally, including MIT and New York University Abu Dhabi, and in nearly every province in what is currently Canada, shaping data-driven, decolonial, and equity-focused approaches to research, policy, and capacity-building.
As a young disabled mother, Larissa was in many ways forced into entrepreneurship at 25 after experiencing discrimination that pushed her out of the conventional workforce. In response, she founded Future Ancestors Services, a next-generation speakers bureau and consulting firm that centers temporal (de)colonization, disability and caregiving accessibility, and sustainability in working relationships. Through this work, she has created space where equity and relational success are valued alongside productivity, reshaping how organizations approach leadership and workplace culture.
Her expertise spans race-based data collection, decolonial governance, restorative conflict resolution, and climate policy, and her leadership has been recognized with honours including the York University One to Watch Alumni Award, Corporate Knights Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability, Women of Influence’s Top 25, and Pollution Probe’s Equity in Sustainability Award. Complex Canada named her one of “20 Canadians Who Will Shape the Next 20 Years of the Culture.”
Beyond her role as a labourer, Larissa is an avid rock climber and native plant enthusiast deeply connected to Kananaskis Country, on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising Siksika, Piikani and Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, as well as the Métis homeland.