Ceremony welcomes Indigenous faculty members

With more than 100 courses that include Indigenous content, and 15 degree, diploma and certificate programs with an Indigenous specialization, the appointment of several Indigenous faculty this fall is a giant leap forward in UVic’s commitment to increasing Indigenous academic and cultural perspective and community-engaged experiences for students.

At a ceremony in the First Peoples House Ceremonial Hall, several Indigenous faculty asked permission to work in the traditional territory of the Esquimalt and Songhees peoples, and were welcomed by Lekwungen Elder Dr. Skip Dick. They included Christina Chakanyuka (Metis/Cree/Scottish), School of Nursing; Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton (Tsawout First Nation) and Sarah Wright Cardinal (Cree), School of Child and Youth Care; Danielle Geller (Navajo) and Greg Scofield (Métis), Department of Writing; Patrick Lozar (Salish/Kootenai), Department of History; Renée Monchali (Algonquin/Huron-Wendat/Métis), School of Public Health and Social Policy; Jean-Paul Restoule (Anishinaabe), Department of Indigenous Education; and Edōsdi Judy Thompson (Tahltan Nation), Department of Indigenous Education. The incoming Dean of Science, Dr. Peter Loock, asked permission on behalf of UVic’s new faculty and librarians, to work on these traditional lands.