In 2021, North Island College (NIC) established two new five-year plans that were designed to guide institutional activity. These were the institutional strategic plan ‘Build 2026’ and the institution’s first Indigenization plan: ‘Working Together’. These two plans expressed an institutional commitment to further support Indigenization, decolonization, and reconciliation at NIC. Within this context the Office of Global Engagement and the Office of Indigenous Education (OIE), embarked on the development of Canada’s first indigenizing internationalization plan. The result is: ‘Journeying Together: A transformational approach to Indigenization and internationalization at NIC’. Journeying Together is a way to:

* Collaborate with the OIE and indigenous communities.
* Increase understanding of the international education aspirations of the First nations that are in the college region.
* Explore how to Indigenize international education at NIC through dialogue.
* Prepare international students as visitors and immigrants to our region.
* Explore place-based learning and new partnerships in a global context.
* Consider the concept of being ‘indigenous serving.
* Support indigenous language learning for international students at NIC.
* Focus intercultural education activities toward Indigenization.
* Develop the plan as a process (Indigenizing) rather than a result (Indigenized).
* Provide budget support to the plan until 2026.

The resulting plan establishes a commitment to transform what we do and how we do international education. It sets a new path of discourse that considers ways to ‘weave’ aspects of Indigenization with those of internationalization building; a process that is driven by the 35 First Nations in our region based on shared history; social and economic need; and cultural expectations.