UBC is committed to engaging in meaningful and reciprocal relationships with Indigenous communities.
The UBC Vancouver campus is located on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, and the UBC Okanagan campus is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. The xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) and Syilx peoples have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial.
As an educational institution, we work to promote an ongoing journey of learning. UBC is continually working to uplift and center the history, ideas, and voices of Indigenous faculty, staff, students, and local communities through various program offerings, learning opportunities, and partnerships.
Indigenous Strategic Plan
Launched in September of 2020, UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP) outlines eight goals, broken down into 43 specific actions that the UBC community can take in leading the advancement of Indigenous human rights and engaging in reconciliation as an institution. The ISP serves as a university-wide response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ 231 Calls for Justice, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.
Many units, departments, programs, and teams across UBC, representing a diversity of disciplines and service areas, are already meaningfully engaged with the ISP on a variety of levels, preparing to implement some of the calls to action through professional development and self-assessment, designing projects that respond to the calls to action, and carrying out those projects.
UBC’s place on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) land
It’s important that the UBC community has a full and felt understanding of what it means for us to work on unceded Musqueam land.
While construction of the UBC Point Grey campus began in 1915, the Musqueam people have been stewards and caretakers of these lands since time immemorial, going back at least nine thousand years. In 1976, members of the Musqueam community and elected leaders released the Musqueam Declaration, a document that provides geographical details describing the bounds of Musqueam territory as well as asserting rights and title over access to, and use of, this territory. Understanding this history on a personal level is an integral part of offering meaningful land acknowledgements — something we all must continually work towards in our work at the university.
Part of your career at UBC means expanding your knowledge and awareness of our collective responsibilities to the Musqueam people and considering this in your daily collective work. We encourage learning and relationship building opportunities for all staff and faculty at all levels of their career by directing employees to learning resources and programming developed in partnership with Musqueam First Nation.
Programming and spaces
UBC Vancouver offers a number of programming and community gathering opportunities for Indigenous staff and faculty and the larger campus community. Explore a sample of these initiatives, below.
Professional Development
UBC supports staff and faculty to lead and participate in decolonizing and Indigenizing work by offering a wide selection of professional development (PD) opportunities. Ranging from on-campus and in-person learning to project consultation and online training programs. There is a full list of recommended professional development opportunities for faculty and staff on the First Nations House of Learning’s Indigenous Portal.
Additional resources and further learning
- Musqueam: giving information about our teachings
- c̓əsnaʔəm: The City Before the City
- Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology: Indigenous Initiatives
- First Nations House of Learning: Indigenous Portal
- UBCO Indigenous Programs and Services
- Syilx Okanagan Nation Alliance
- Bridge Through Sport
- Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations