Prospective students

June 2026

Misi-zaagiing/Mshi-zaagiing Nishnaabe miinwaa Lucbanin ndaaw. Dik miinwaa Jiijaak ndoodemag. Estrella Whetung ndzhnikaaz. Pemdashkodeyaang, Oshkiigmong, miinwaa Lucban ndoonjibaa. I am grateful to have grown up and learned on the territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm), W̱SÁNEĆ, and SC'IȺNEW nations.

I’m receiving a Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Indigenous Governance. When I started my studies the IGOV PhD program hadn’t launched yet, so this was a degree by special arrangement (SPARR).

I started my formal post-secondary education at Camosun College in the Indigenous Studies program and then transferred to UVic. I continued my PhD at UVic because of all of my inspirational mentors and student peers as well as the many supportive staff members. I especially thank everyone who helped me in my home department as well as the folks who worked at the Indigenous Student Support Centre in the Faculty of Human and Social Development.

My committee members for my PhD studies have been wonderful long-time teachers in my life—some of whom I've known for over 20 years. Each person I've been lucky enough to work with has had a lasting impact on my life and has contributed to how I engage relationally.

I am looking forward to enjoying my Summer through my upcoming art projects. I am also excited to be going up to Inuvik to teach as a visiting Indigenous workshop artist at the Great Northern Arts Festival.

I chose IGOV because I felt I needed to follow my desire for research and focus on spaces to endure, protect and implement from our understandings, particularly towards Nêhiyaw and Indigenous ways of knowing. To do that, I knew I had come to the School of Indigenous Governance as its passion for theory and research aligned with me.

My favourite moments in the program were connecting and challenging the discourse of knowledge, which fuelled my passion for knowledge, particularly engaging themes in conversations with our powerful and intelligent professors.

The moments I appreciated the most were:

• building good relationships with the faculty and my peers
• enduring the moments that allowed me to explore knowledge
• further building confidence in Indigenous research and methodology

As a graduate student in Indigenous Governance, Ryan Whetung has gone above and beyond in community building and leadership.

As one academic leader and another faculty member jointly noted, Ryan's contributions demonstrate that "leadership is best carried out in ways that cultivate community, disperses power across everyone instead of consolidating power, and draws out and mobilizes the individual gifts and contributions of one another."

"He creates community amongst his peers by tutoring peers, hosting social gatherings, facilitating study groups and ensures that all are included. His humor and humility bring a lightness to his guidance that enable others to lean on Ryan for support while he simultaneously builds up their own confidence and trust in themselves and their contributions and knowledge."

"Ryan leads by example, through the everyday micro-level interactions that set the tone to how we interact with one another and models relational modes of being steeped in kindness, love and respect."

I chose the Indigenous Governance (IGOV) program due to its reputation and globally recognized name for building community relationships and producing brilliant scholars.

This program has offered me the opportunity to unlearn and relearn, bridge theory and practice, and gain knowledge from leading academics such as Dr. Gina Starblanket and Dr. Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark.

It’s hard to narrow my experience to a single favourite moment. However, my top 3 moments in IGOV include:

• travelling to Red River to attend a Prairie Indigenous Relationality Network conference
• getting to do land-based coursework
• building a community with amazing peers in my cohort