Our Spring Update!
 
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Spring Renewal!

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2022! 

We made it to spring! We hope you have found time to enjoy the fresh blooming flowers and moments of sunshine. Things have been busy in the Indigenous Initiatives office and we are so excited to share with you what we have been up to and what is coming up next.  

 

 

 

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It has been one year since the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc confirmation of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. This moment has rippled out across communities, and sparked the confirmation of more than 1800 graves at former Residential School sites across the country. This has been an ongoing grief, deeply impacting communities. We want to acknowledge the ongoing strength of our Indigenous community partners, team members, and loved ones who have been holding this and also acknowledge the hard work of those working to bring their loved ones home.  
If you need support during this challenging time, please reach out to:  
The Indian Residential School Emergency Crisis Line is available 24/7 for those that may need counselling and support 1-800-721-0066. Alternatively, the 24 hour National Crisis Line is also available 1-866-925-4419.

The Hope for Wellness Help Line is open to all Indigenous Peoples across Canada, and offers 24-hour mental health counselling, via phone 1-855-242-3310 or chat Line. 
 
Call 310-6789 (no area code needed) toll-free anywhere in BC to access emotional support, information, and resources specific to mental health and substance use issues. Available 24 hours a day. 
 
The KUU-US Crisis Line Society operates a 24-hour provincial Aboriginal Crisis line for: adults, elders, and youth. See more here. 
Adult/Elder Crisis Line: 250-723-4050 
Child/Youth Crisis Line: 250-723-2040 
BC Wide Toll Free: 1-800-588-8717 
Métis Crisis Line BC Toll Free: 1-833-638-4722 

 

 

 

         In This Newsletter

            1. Happy Pride & Indigenous Peoples Month 
            2. Summer Term II Newsletter Schedule  
            3. II Team Updates 
            4. Events & Workshops
            5. Career Opportunities - Join the II Team
            6. Kinship Corner
            7. Across Our Desks 

 

 

 

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Happy Pride & Indigenous Peoples Month

June is a busy and powerful month, with the ringing in of summer and the celebrations of Pride and Indigenous Peoples Month. We want to acknowledge all our LGBTQ2S+ community members, especially our Indigiqueer and 2 Spirit kin. With all the celebrations this month, it‘s also a valuable time for learning. Take a moment to read about the first Pride events in America and around world. The history of Pride and the fight for the liberation of marginalized peoples is intrinsically connected, in Canada the Queer rights movement exists because of the labour and fight of Black queer people: a history that is often ignored.  
During this month that we need to centre Black and Indigenous trans women, and remember what Oji-Cree Saulteaux writer jaye simpson writes: "LandBack means protecting Black and Indigenous trans women.” So much of our shared freedoms, regardless of our intersecting identities, comes from the labour of Black and Indigenous queer people, trans and 2Spirit community, and sex workers. As Adrienne Hubbard and Jacqueline Pelland write in their essay Sexual Sovereignty: “When we talk about "land,” we refer to the inherent connection Indigenous bodies have to territory – we cannot separate the two.” As Nehiyaw writer Emily Riddle reminds us during this time of Pride and Indigenous Peoples Month, Indigenous governance is very gay.  
 
If you are interested in learning more, check out X̱wi7x̱wa Library‘s Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Research Guide!  

 

 

 

II Team Updates

Summer Term Newsletter Schedule

You may have noticed that you did not hear from us in April or May! Times were remarkably busy in the II office, and because of this, we are jam packing this newsletter with all the good things from April and May, while looking forward to June. For the summer, we will be doing a condensed newsletter schedule, so you will hear from us again in August. We will be back to our monthly schedule starting again in September.  
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Happy Trails, Claudia Diaz!

We share a bittersweet farewell message to our dear colleague Claudia Diaz, who is leaving her role as Educational Consultant, Indigenous Initiatives June 3, 2022. We are, however, delighted to congratulate Claudia on her new position at the University of Victoria as Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies in the Faculty of Education!    
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank Claudia as she has been an integral member of the CTLT Indigenous Initiatives team. During her time with us, Claudia‘s valuable contributions included supporting the in/relation project, classroom climate TA Training, and the TDP for New Faculty program. Claudia also collaborated on the development of, and facilitated follow-up workshops for, the Workplace Learning and Engagement Land Acknowledgements online course, and the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning programming. Recently, Claudia‘s work has focused on supporting the implementation of the ISI (Indigenous Strategic Implementation) Funds and consultations to support ISP implementation 

 

 

 

A note from Claudia...

While I am excited about my new position, there is also a big part of me that is sad to be saying goodbye to the amazing Indigenous Initiative team and those who I met through our programming. In this position I have come to work with outstanding and committed colleagues who have showed me the value of creativity and humor in the work we do. I am also grateful to the faculty, staff, and students who I worked with during these years. Together, they have offered me lessons about humility, generosity, and reciprocity that I am thankful for.  

With best wishes to all of you! 

 

 

 

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What I Learned in Class Today Soft Launch  

We launched the Student Perspective‘s film to a virtual audience in April. We had such wonderful conversation as the team on our process and the future of the project. After our launch we received valuable community feedback that we are taking to heart and working to create an even stronger resource to share with our communities. Keep an eye out in future newsletters to see when we will be releasing our complete updated What I Learned Today resource, complete with videos, a facilitation guide, and supplementary articles.  

 

 

 

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Spring 2022 Update from the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Team 

The Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning (A-RTL) planning team is happy to share some updates on our work over the Winter and Spring. Check out all the amazing work A-RTL has been up to!
Read The Update

 

 

 

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Indigenous Initiatives Design Series for STEM

July 12, 14, 19

The Indigenous Initiatives Design Series (II-Design Series) is a 3-part workshop for instructors and members of the UBC teaching and learning community who come to Indigenous topics with different levels of knowledge and expertise to share practices, redesign elements of their teaching and learning projects and resources, model and explore educational materials, and apply classroom climate principles to everyday learning design situations. Through interactive, blended synchronous and asynchronous activities and peer-to-peer discussion, we will take a closer look at classroom climate, instructor/student positionality, and place. 
Please note: This offering of the II-Design Series is in partnership with Faculties of Applied Sciences, Science, Land & Food Systems, and Forestry. Registrations from these Faculties will be given priority.  An open-registration offering is scheduled for Fall 2022, and we are also working on custom offerings in partnership with additional Faculties. Stay tuned!

To learn more, check out Indigenous Initiatives Design Series: Decolonizing Teaching and Learning in STEM.

Apply to register, visit: https://apsc.ubc.ca/indigenous-initiatives-design-series-ii-design-series.  

 

 

 

Indigenous Initiatives Events and Workshops

Indigenous Initiatives Virtual Coffee Drop-ins

Do you have questions about how to intentionally and thoughtfully bring in Indigenous content and worldviews into your teaching and work? Are you wondering about how to navigate land acknowledgements in a virtual and in person world? Come visit us at a virtual coffee drop-in, a casual online space for you to ask us questions, connect with others who are exploring the same topics of you, or just to get to know the team behind Indigenous Initiatives.  
 
Click the date and time you're available to register for a drop-in time. 

June 16th, 2022


July 19th, 2022


August 17th, 2022


 

 

 

Indigenous Initiatives Design Series for STEM

July 12, 14, 19
9:30am - 12:30pm

Please note: This offering of the II-Design Series is in partnership with Faculties of Applied Sciences, Science, Land & Food Systems, and Forestry. Registrations from these Faculties will be given priority.  An open-registration offering is scheduled for Fall 2022, and we are also working on custom offerings in partnership with additional Faculties. Stay tuned!


 

 

 

Career Opportunity - Join the II Team!
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The Indigenous Initiatives team at CTLT is hiring an Educational Consultant, Strategic Projects. This is a full-time, 1 year position.

The posting will remain active on Workday Staff Careers Site (JR7081) until Tuesday June 14th, 11:59pm.



 

 

 

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Kinship Corner
This is a new section of our newsletter we are creating for Indigenous community at UBC to share heart filling spaces we can come together and gather. For non-Indigenous allies, we encourage you to always double check if events in this section are specifically for Indigenous community before RSVP-ing.   

 

 

 

The last few months have brought many forms of grief into our communities. We want to hold space for the complexities of our existences, and extend hope, kindness, and generosity for all our impacted communities. Our heart is with the families of Chelsea Poorman, Chantel Moore, Jacob Sansom, and Maurice Cardinal, on their paths to find justice.  

In February, we created a resource to support Indigenous Kin around the annual Women‘s Memorial March. A part of this resource focuses on Indigenous joy, which we would love to share with you all again: https://indigenousinitiatives.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2022/02/FEB14-INDIGENOUSCOMMUNITY-RESOURCE-1-1.pdf  

The Meaning of Round Dance 

[University of Calgary] In honour of National Indigenous History Month, the Office of Indigenous Engagement presents The Meaning of Round Dance on June 14 – an event to celebrate the history, culture and resiliency of Indigenous Peoples through round dance.   

Join us for a virtual gathering as we come together to learn the origin and meaning of round dance and share in its celebration of life. We‘ll explore three perspectives of round dance with Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers Hal Eagletail, Rod Hunter and Reg Crowshoe with moderation by Elissa Twoyoungmen, Indigenous Cultural Education and Protocol Specialist, Office of Indigenous Engagement.   

June 14, 2022 

Summer Institute for Indigenous Graduate Students

UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, in partnership with Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Office of Indigenous Education, Faculty of Education through the SAGE (Support Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement) program, is offering a new summer program specifically for Indigenous graduate students.

The Indigenous Graduate Summer Institute brings together newly admitted and current Indigenous graduate students in a safe, inclusive and immersive one-week introduction to graduate studies, research and student success strategies. 

The week-long institute, held July 11 – 17, 2022 in person, is open to both new and current Indigenous graduate students at UBC who self-identify as First Nations, Métis and Inuit, and is free of charge. 

Registration is limited, so students are encouraged to apply by June 14 to be included in the first co-hort. Applicants will be notified of their admittance by Friday, June 17.

 

 

 

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Perspectives on Reconciliation with Dr. Pamela Palmater

Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Time: 12:00pm - 1:30pm PST
Zoom Webinar

Presented through the KPU Dialogue series: The KPU Indigenous Dialogue Series 2021-2022 is a 4 part speaker series intended to bring together all members of the Kwantlen community—students, employees, affiliates, and the general public; settler and Indigenous—to listen, learn, and engage with Indigenous scholars, activists, and leaders

BCCampus FLO MicroCourse: Considerations to Indigenize Your Work 

This course runs from July 18 – 24, 2022.

In this course you will explore how you might reframe Indigenous pedagogies in online (and face-to-face) environments, including encouraging participation and creating relationships.

Facilitating learning online (FLO) MicroCourses are short, single-topic, hands-on and practical. They are designed to develop digital literacy in faculty and educators.  

Indigenous Initiatives at Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
The University of British Columbia, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Traditional Territory
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre 217 – 1961 East Mall, Vancouver, CA V6T1Z1
Visit our website at http://indigenousinitiatives.ctlt.ubc.ca/