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Indigenous Studies, FASS News, Faculty
FASS recognizes Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) respectfully acknowledges the xÊ·məθkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), sÉ™lÌ“ilwÌ“É™taʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), qÌ“ÃcÌ“É™yÌ“ (Katzie), kÊ·ikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Semiahmoo and Tsawwassen peoples on whose unceded traditional territories our three campuses reside.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV is committed to the principles of Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. September 30 is a day to recognize and commemorate the tragic history and ongoing legacy of residential schools, and to honour their survivors, their families and communities.
This page outlines how FASS faculty, staff and students are working to answer the . In addition to our institutional Reconcili-action Plan, drafted by ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's first Director of Indigenous Relations, Jessie Williams, you'll find a selection of FASS News profiles, highlighting how people throughout FASS have been advancing the work of reconciliation.
You'll also find FASS-supported resources open to the academic community and the public at-large. Read about the Bill Reid Centre's digital collection; learn Haida phrases or listen to stories or children's songs via the First Nations Language Centre; watch Dr. Deanna Reder's presentation for FASS' 2020 Developing Minds conference, where she offers strategies for "Reading the Indigenous Archive."
Interim FASS Reconcili-action Plan
We are grateful to Jessie Williams, ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's first Director of Indigenous Relations, who worked with former Dean Jane Pulkingham, FASS faculty and staff to craft an interim Reconcili-action Plan.
FASS has the largest participation of Indigenous students enrolled in programs ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV-wide — approximately 57% of ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Indigenous undergraduate students are based in FASS programs. FASS also has broad experience gained from delivering three strong Indigenous focused programs — the Indigenous Language Program, Indigenous Studies, and the Indigenous University Preparation Program. The Faculty has the responsibility and the honour of leveraging this knowledge in order to grow and evolve our understanding and implementation of Indigenous teachings into our academic endeavours.
Note: The permanent position of , is currently open for applications.
doing the work
Above: Watch the speeches and graduation ceremony of the 2021 graduates from the and the . We are grateful to the fluent speakers who generously shared their languages and culture, and celebrate the learners who graduated through ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Indigenous Languages Program.
We recognize that bringing the work of reconciliation, Indigenization, and decolonization into our work at the university is a long-term project. It is ongoing and labour-intensive. We are grateful for the hard work of our faculty and students who are collaborating with Indigenous communities, innovating curriculum, engaging with Indigenous students, and seeing them through both personal and academic milestones. Here are just a few of the highlights of this work as covered in FASS or ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV News:
- Finding Indigenous Children: The Brandon Indian Residential School Project.
Collaborating with Brandon Residential School Cemeteries Project, Dr. Eldon Yellowhorn and PhD student Katherine Nichols are working to identify the names of children who died at the school while it was in operation from 1895 to 1972.
- Introducing: Dr. Sarah Henzi
For the first time ever, ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV students can take Indigenous Studies, en français.
- The Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) have graduated several first-cohorts of language speakers and honoured fluent language speakers during Spring 2020, Fall 2020, and June 2021 convocations:
- Researchers revive endangered Blackfoot language using digital technology
Led by Dr. Eldon Yellowhorn, The Blackfoot language revitalization project is a free resource teaching Blackfoot vocabulary and pronunciation.
- Dr. James Crippen (Dzéiwsh) of the Tlingit Nation also joined INLP in 2020, as the program's first post-doctoral fellow.
- Exploring the dehumanization, victimization, criminalization, and over-incarceration of Indigenous women in Canada
Dr. Danielle Murdoch and Indigenous PhD student Michaela McGuire have co-published their collaborative research on how societal indifference and racism towards Indigenous women have persisted in Canada, and their overrepresentation in the federal correctional system.
- Undergraduate students Kimberley John and Alison Wick deepen their learning in Indigenous Studies.
Working as research assistants for Dr. Deanna Reder’s archival project, , John and Wick developed a commitment to deepening their learning and understanding of Indigenous histories, literatures, and current contexts.
Increasing indigenous representation
- Indigenous faculty now represent about four per cent of total FASS continuing faculty complement. In the last two years, we have welcomed:
- Dr. Jeannie Morgan, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies
- Dr. Joyce Schneider / Kicya7, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Pedagogies, Indigenous Studies
- Dr. June Scudeler, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies
- Dr. Kyle Willmott, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology
- Dr. Jeannie Morgan, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies
Above: Dr. Deanna Reder, Indigenous Studies, speaks at a President's Faculty Lecture on The Obligations of Stories.
FASS Resources for learning more
- Join Psychology for a talk by Dr. Margaret Kovach on October 1 —
- Dr. Marianne Ignace and the First Nations Language Centre have made . You may learn a few Haida words and phrases, or listen to stories or children's songs.
- , part of the Department of Indigenous Studies, documents through photographs, drawings and various other media, the depth and richness of Northwest Coast culture. You may browse online exhibits, a Virtual Village project and a vast digital image collection.
- For teachers: in a presentation for the Developing Minds conference
Community Resources for learning more
- Ceremonies have been organized at all three campuses in the week of September 27–30. Please visit ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's page for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for details and for additional resources and events.
- In Vancouver: (translation: call to witness / listen to respected one) is a performance to honour ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Shirt Day on Thursday, September 30, 2021, 12 noon, presented by the Vancouver Art Gallery.
- Online: , a virtual event on September 30 at 2:15 pm PST, organized by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc.
- The at the University of Manitoba. As a place of learning and dialogue, NCTR houses archives, reports, and resources. As the website describes, it is a place where "the truths of the residential school experience will be honoured and kept safe for future generations." Visitors to the website can access statements from Survivors, their families, staff and those affected by the residential school system as well as an interactive map of residential schools within Canada, or read through the TRC's published research.
- University of Alberta's , a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) by the .
- is a website and mobile app by the Indigenous-run not-for-profit . Learn more about the Indigenous land you're on, specifically about the nation, language, or treaties that exist where you are.
Funds to Support Indigenous Students and programs
If you would like to donate to support Indigenous students and programs, FASS has three endowments.
- . Mary Steinhauser was a sociology/psychology alumni who was working in the BC Penitentiary when she was killed after a 41-hour hostage incident in 1975. Margaret Franz, her sister, set up this bursary and maintains a .
- . The Indigenous University Preparation Program helps Indigenous learners prepare and transition to university studies in a small first-year cohort program.
- Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) There are two funds that support Indigenous students studying Indigenous languages at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV: The Dr. Aimee August Annual Undergraduate Scholarship, and the . Do contribute to these funds, please get in touch with FASS Advancement.
* Dr. Aimee August was a Secwépemc elder who compiled the first Secwépemc language-learning kit for the local community. She received an honourary degree from ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV in 1992. Dr. Ruby Peter received an Honorary Degree from ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV for her work in helping train the next generation of Hul’q’umi’num’ language teachers and researchers. This fund supports work that is done in the Indigenous Languages Program.