Backgrounder: University of Victoria’s first Indigenous Plan

The University of Victoria’s first Indigenous Plan will guide the university in meeting its commitments to Indigenous education over the next five years. It was developed over two years by faculty, staff and students, led by the Associate Vice President Academic Planning and the Director of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement, and involved extensive consultations with Indigenous communities in the local region.

UVic is proud of its commitment to supporting the success of its Indigenous students. In 2016/17 UVic enrolled 1,224 Indigenous students, a more than 36 per cent increase over the past decade. In line with demographic trends that show growth in numbers amongst Indigenous youth, new undergraduate registrants to UVic are increasingly coming to university directly from secondary school. In 2010, just under 50 per cent of our new Indigenous undergraduates came from the high school system and by 2016 that proportion has risen to 56 per cent. Indigenous graduate students now total 244 with about 20 per cent of those students pursuing doctoral degrees.

The university’s local area includes 14 First Nations, along with a sizeable Indigenous urban population and a significant Métis community. All of these communities are facing distinct challenges and all are experiencing similar demographic shifts. UVic delivers successful programming that is responsive to community needs, including the Indigenous language revitalization cohorts with WSÁNEĆ and Nuu-chah-nulth communities.

Indigenous-focused programs

The university has Indigenous-focused programs in Indigenous language and culture, social and economic capacity building, law, and governance and leadership.  As an example, our community-based program in Indigenous language revitalization is widely accessible through a degree stream and a continuing education stream delivered in community. Indigenous language revitalization programs work to restore and preserve Indigenous languages across Canada, recognizing the integral role of language to culture and communities.

Indigenous Law

UVic’s Faculty of Law is home to the Indigenous Law Research Unit, established in 2012, which since that time has worked with over 40 communities across Canada to create robust tools, processes, practices and institutions grounded in Indigenous legal traditions. UVic Law’s leadership has been manifest in its delivery of the ground-breaking Akitsiraq program that provided a full JD degree to a cohort of Inuit students in Iqaluit, its role in creating the National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development and its professional and public education coast to coast to coast.

In addition, UVic is proposing a joint program in Canadian common law and Indigenous legal orders (JD/JID) as a means to help Indigenous peoples maximize, in the manner of their choosing, their contributions to BC and Canada and their social, political and economic growth. As the only professional program of its kind, the JD/JID will be a national and world-leading program, training professionals to work across Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal traditions.

Education and program supports

The Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement (IACE) and the Native Students Union (NSU) continue to work together to ensure that cultural, social, emotional and academic support programming meet the needs of students and is student-initiated and student-led as much as possible including Indigenous Resurgence Month events, tutoring, and health and wellness supports. Our core support program, LE,NONET, provides a suite of programs that welcome and support Indigenous students (status, non-status, Inuit, Métis) throughout their educational journeys at UVic. Other Indigenous student support includes the Indigenous Student Support Centre in the Faculty of Human and Social Development, the Cultural Support Coordinator in the Faculty of Law and the Indigenous Advisor in the Faculty of Education.

Indigenous Cultural Acumen Training

Indigenous Cultural Acumen Training (ICAT) workshops support the ongoing work of making UVic a better place for Indigenous students and community members, and, by extension, for all students, faculty and staff. Building on work done at the university over the past two decades, it also comprises a response to the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report, University Canada's Principles on Indigenous Education, and President Cassel's Update on the TRC Report (October 2015). The first module of ICAT is designed to offer foundational information about the colonial context (historical and current) of Indigenous people in Canada to all members of the university community (students, student leaders, staff, faculty and executive). It is delivered as an 80-minute, face-to-face presentation and discussion, along with pre- and post-workshop resources and activities.