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Featured Book
We highly recommend reading Who We Are: Four Questions For a Life and a Nation by Justice Murray Sinclair, which intertwines his journey as a judge, senator, and Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with his personal story and the broader story of reconciliation in Canada. (Read an excerpt from pp. 7–8 below.)
“Many of today’s leading and prominent Canadians attended school and university in an era long before educational authorities began to take their first critical look at curricula as it relates to Indigenous peoples. That education has influenced each and every one of us. As an Indigenous student, it denied me any sense of pride about the role of my ancestors in the history of this part of the world. For my non-Indigenous classmates, it taught them that we were wild and savage and uncivilized, and that given the conditions of Aboriginal people in modern society, we had not advanced very far from that state. My non-Indigenous classmates were taught to be proud of the accomplishments of their ancestors in taming this wild country and wresting it from the savages and establishing this wonderful nation known as Canada.
My education lacked relevance for me, and this was so despite my success at it. That success came at a price. It taught me and others that my people were irrelevant, and, by implication, it caused me to feel that I was too. It taught us to believe in the inferiority of Aboriginal people and in the inherent superiority of white European civilization, and in order to get the grades that I did, I was compelled to repeat that unconscious mantra. The system of my day did not teach us to respect Indigenous people because it never told us anything about the Aboriginal presence in this country that showed the humanity of the people. In public schools, we were all educated to be the same, and if we rebelled, resisted, or rejected that process, we were weeded out or we weeded ourselves out. Of the Indigenous students I started grade school with, few ever graduated from high school. Even my brother and sister did not. But while I and others succeeded in that system, it was not without cost to our own humanity and our sense of self-respect. These are the legacies all of us find ourselves in today.”
–Who We Are: Four Questions For a Life and a Nation by Justice Murray Sinclair
Core Concepts
Reconciliation
REDI’s Word of the Month
Reconciliation is an ongoing commitment that requires action from each of us. Learn more about the meaning of reconciliation and concrete actions you can take individually and as a unit or department.
Foundational Resources
Weaving Relations
The Faculty of Applied Science and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
Weaving Relations is a self-directed course that explores Indigenous histories, people, and contexts, as well as settler colonialism in Canada, through the lens of Indigenous-Canadian relationships. The course considers how we got to where we are now, and how we can build a better future together.
Indigenous Foundations
UBC First Nations and Indigenous Studies
An information resource on key topics relating to the histories, politics, and cultures of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.
Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations
Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
A UBC-Aboriginal Timeline, documenting UBC’s key historical moments with Aboriginal peoples.
Musqueam & UBC
Learn more about Musqueam, on whose traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory UBC is located. For millennia, this land has been a place of learning, where the Musqueam have passed on their culture, history, and traditions from one generation to the next.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes 94 calls to action across a wide range of areas including child welfare, education, health, justice, language and culture.
Changing Practice
The Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP) Implementation Toolkit
Office of Indigenous Strategic Initiatives
UBC units can use this set of tools to help situate themselves in relation to Indigenous engagement and to start aligning their work with the Indigenous Strategic Plan. The Toolkit includes the ISP Self-Assessment Tool, a Performance Measurement Framework, and more.
NCIME Catalogue
The National Circle for Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME)
The NCIME Catalogue offers valuable tools to foster culturally safe and equitable medical education for Indigenous learners. It features guidelines on Indigenous student admissions, anti-racism strategies, curriculum enhancement, faculty recruitment, and Indigenous physician wellness, all aimed at advancing Indigenous medical education and leadership in health care.
Pulling Together: Foundations Guide
Kory Wilson and Colleen Hodgson (MNBC)
The Foundations Guide is part of an open professional learning series for staff across BC post-secondary institutions, developed through the Indigenization Project—a collaboration between BCcampus and the Ministry of Advanced Education with guidance from Indigenous education leaders and organizations. Alongside guides for leaders, curriculum developers, instructors, front-line staff, and researchers, this resource provides self-guided modules to support understanding and implementation of Indigenization and decolonization in post-secondary contexts.
What I Learned in Class Today: Indigenous Issues in the Classroom
CTLT Indigenous Initiatives
Educational experiences and institutional responses to indigenous engagement in curriculum, pedagogy, and classroom climate at UBC.
Indigenous Peoples: Language Guidelines
UBC Brand
This guideline provides practical guidance on respectful and accurate terminology when referring to Indigenous peoples, communities, and lands. It is relevant to anyone who communicates in writing or speech—whether you are an educator, researcher, or communicator. It offers clear explanations, examples, and considerations to help you make thoughtful choices in your work, while recognizing that language evolves and must be revisited over time.
Refreshed Land Acknowledgments at UBC Course
This is part of the Indigenous Learning Pathways (ILP) program — a joint project between CTLT Indigenous Initiatives and HR Orientations & Onboarding
The refreshed Land Acknowledgments at UBC course is an updated resource for faculty and staff to enhance their learning and their practice of offering meaningful and accountable land acknowledgments in their role at UBC. The refreshed course includes new content, videos and activities, as well as a facilitation guide to continue the discussion and learning journey with colleagues.
Land/Territory Acknowledgement
UBC Faculty of Medicine Faculty Development
See: Land/Territory Acknowledgement. Doing a land/territory acknowledgement helps insert an awareness of indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life. This quick guide describes how to create and deliver a digital land/territory acknowledgement and why it is important to promote awareness. Using this resource will also help ensure that making a land/territory acknowledgement is a genuine and meaningful act.
Weaving Truth and Reconciliation in Indigenous Health
Indigenous Health Rounds
The interCultural Online Health Network (iCON) & Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Indigenous Health
These health rounds serve as a platform to bring Indigenous voices to health care providers, policy makers and health administrators for knowledge sharing, dialogue and brainstorming solutions to combat racism and foster culturally safe health care settings for Indigenous patients and families.
The Unforgotten
BUILD. Films and Networked Health
A five-part film exploring the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples living in Canada. The film is accompanied by an educational toolkit. Created by BUILD. Films and Networked Health, with funding and support from the Canadian Medical Association.
Intergenerational Trauma and the Impacts of Colonial History on the Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous People
VCH Aboriginal Health and UBC iCON (Department of Emergency Medicine)
Watch the recording of this virtual Indigenous Health Round with speakers from the UBC School of Nursing: Dr. Elder Roberta Price, an Elder Advisor and Research Partner from the Snuneymuxw and Cowichan Nations, and Dr. Colleen Varcoe, a professor and scholar of Indigenous (Cherokee) and immigrant (English) heritage. Topics discussed: the impacts of historical and ongoing colonialism and racism on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples in Canada, different forms of violence and the pathways of harm including stigma, discrimination, and epigenetics experienced by the Indigenous communities, and how healthcare providers could go beyond self reflection to create culturally and emotionally safe organizations and practices, and contribute to meaningful change in healthcare cultures.
Indigenous Health and Wellness, Advocacy, and Allyship Certificate
Athabasca University
This certificate provides a deep exploration of Indigenous health and wellness, advocacy, and allyship. Participants will reflect on personal biases, confront historical traumas, and develop ethical approaches to allyship with humility and integrity. The program examines anti-Indigenous racism, the impacts of colonization, and differences between Indigenous and Western worldviews, equipping learners with tools to address health disparities. Graduates will be empowered to advocate for Indigenous health equity and contribute to transformative change in healthcare.
The UBC Faculty of Medicine Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action
UBC Faculty of Medicine
Reckoning with the Truth, Working Together for a Better Future
In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care
Hon. Dr. M.E. Turpel-Lafond (Aki-Kwe) Independent Reviewer
Reading & Media Picks
Stay Connected
Indigenous Events at UBC
UBC Indigenous Portal
Discover upcoming workshops, talks, and cultural gatherings on the UBC Indigenous Events Calendar. The calendar is administered by UBC Events and is populated by event organizers across the university, including FNHL.
Indigenous Units
UBC Indigenous Portal
Explore Indigenous academic and administrative units on UBC Vancouver Campus.