If you need support during this challenging time, please reach out to:

• The Indian Residential School Survivors Society operates a 24-hour crisis line to support survivors and families across British Columbia and beyond: 1-800-721-0066. Alternatively, the 24-hour Residential School 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 below:  
• Adult/Elder Crisis Line: 250-723-4050  
• Child/Youth Crisis Line: 250-723-2040  
• Toll Free: 1-800-588-8717  
• Métis Line: 1-833-638-4722 

Orange Shirt Day, September 30, is a day to honour and uphold Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors of the Indian Residential School system, and to commemorate those who didn‘t return home. You can learn more about the day and the founder of the movement, Phyllis Webstad, on the Orange Shirt Society's website. We encourage you to engage with the events and resources below at UBC and beyond: 

Events

• Indian Residential School Survivor Testimony (Testimony, Sept 23, In-Person)
• Rhythms of Resilience: Voices of Warrior Women (Community Gathering, Sept 25, In-Person) 
• Culture Club at MOA: Imprints for Truth and Reconciliation (Children's Programming, Sept 28, In-Person)
• Walking Together: A Journey of Unity and Healing (Gathering + March, Sept 28, In-Person)
• Intergenerational March (Gathering + March, Sept 30, In-Person) 
• Cedar Weaving with Todd DeVries (Workshop, Sept 30, In-Person)
• Empowering Voices Through Art (Community Gathering, Sept 30, In-Person)
• Honouring the Past, Healing the Present, Inspiring the Future (Community Gathering, Sept 30, In-Person)

Resources

• Virtual Exhibit - Our Children, Our Future: The Indian Child Caravan 45 Years Later
• The Witness Blanket (Book) (Virtual Exhibit)
• Decolonization and Me, New book co-authored by Orange Shirt Day Founder Phyllis Webstad

Looking for an Orange Shirt? Head to the MOA Shop

These days, it feels like you can’t turn around without encountering some new artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to make things “easier”, “faster”, or “better”. Everyone’s talking about AI, but are we discussing the right things? Are we asking ourselves the right questions? Our colleagues in CTLT and LTIC are working hard to support UBC’s teaching and learning community with the influx of Generative AI (GenAI) tools, including holding a regular studio and workshops that cover a range of topics, contributing to the creation of guidelines for GenAI use in teaching and learning, and sharing a list of UBC-approved tools, to name just a few initiatives. We want to add to this work by highlighting Indigenous perspectives, voices, and values as we consider integrating AI into our daily lives, and particularly into academia. 

The Applying Anti-Racist Pedagogy in the Classroom program is a cohort-based program where educators will explore anti-racist approaches and practices to teaching and learning. In this installation of AA-RPC programming, we will ground our conversations within the body of work of cultural humility and culturally sustaining pedagogies, with a focus on building teaching and learning practices that grapple with the often messy yet realistic intersections and nuance of cultural strength and trauma in the classroom.

In this program, participants will critically examine the principles of trauma informed teaching, transformative justice, and abolitionist education and translate theory into concrete teaching and learning strategies that disrupt systemic inequities by supporting and elevating the languages, literacies, and cultural practices of students and communities of colour.

Dates: October 7, 14, 21
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Room 2.22, IKBLC

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 varying levels of knowledge and expertise. Throughout the series, participants will be guided to share practices, re-think and redesign elements of their teaching practices, model and explore educational materials, and reframe common learning scenarios through classroom climate principles.

The II Design Series may be of particular interest to faculty and staff who are engaging with the Strategic Plan (ISP), as it lays the groundwork for important conversations around place-based pedagogies, classroom climate, positionality, as well as introduce foundational concepts related to decolonization efforts within teaching and learning contexts. The Design Series is currently offered as an interactive model, combining synchronous and asynchronous activities and peer-to-peer designed discussions.

Dates: October 28, October 30, November 4
Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Room 2.22, IKBLC

Flourish: Building a Trauma Informed Classroom Community

Join Lauren Casey, Educational Consultant, CTLT Indigenous Initiatives and Samantha Nock, Educational Resources Developer, CTLT Indigenous Initiatives for an interactive conversation focused session on supporting, developing, and maintaining a safer classroom climate that upholds a dynamic and rigorous learning space while navigating complex classroom conflicts, discussions, and situations.

Some key areas that we may discuss include:

• The essentials of a trauma informed practice;
• Balancing the emotional load of facilitating complex learning spaces and creating respectful boundaries;
• Holding difficult conversations with care;
• Building in sustainable supports for students in learning design, and;
• Navigating systemic power structures in the classroom.

This session is designed to be participant directed and the topics and goals of the session may shift depending on the conversation that develops in the room.

Dates: November 20th, 2025
Time: 10:00am - 11:30am
Location: Room 2.22, IKBLC

We welcome you to attend one of CTLT Indigenous Initiatives‘ monthly Virtual Coffee Hours. They are an informal space to connect with consultants on the team and other colleagues across the university. Some common topics that come up include:  

• Professional development plans for individuals, teams, and departments  
• Engaging with the Indigenous Strategic Plan
• Fostering a respectful classroom and campus climate
• Connecting with a network of people across the university
• Locating relevant resources
• Meaningful land acknowledgements

…and more!

Upcoming Dates: 

• September 10, 2025
• September 25, 2025
• October 29, 2025

Join us for a special conversation with Dr. Noelani Puniwai, Associate Professor of Mālama ‘Āina at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa) and Co-Chair of the APRU Indigenous & First Nations Knowledges Network (IFNKN), as we explore how Indigenous knowledges are shaping higher education across the Pacific Rim. It will also provide Indigenous scholars and community from Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia an opportunity to:

• Learn more about APRU and the work of IFNKN
• Share insights and experiences from their own institutional, community and local contexts
• Explore opportunities for collaboration and engagement with IFNKN’s ongoing initiatives

Date: September 23, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Location: Online

This section of the newsletter is a space for intersectional Anti-Racist Teaching and learning (A-RTL) program reflections, community care commemorations, and updates.  

Orange Shirt Day: Reflecting with Intention as a Person of Colour 

September 30th marks Orange Shirt Day, a day to observe and critically engage with the harmful legacy of residential school systems in Canada, to commemorate survivors and to honor those who have been lost. In reflecting on systems of oppression that racialized people find themselves living through, a key symptom of colonialism and neocolonialism are when racial groups compete within institutions for change; a term coined “the Oppression Olympics” (Francis, S., 2016).  September 30th can serve as a call to action, to racialized individuals, to resist the ethos of competition, scarcity and lateral violence, to make intentional room to show up for and build solidarity with Indigenous communities in meaningful ways. A resource by Karmella Cen Benedito De Barros titled Black History Month Interview Feature: Nic Wayara on Black and Indigenous Solidarity and a resource by Sujith Xavier titled Loving, Working, and Living on Stolen Land: People of Colour, Settler Colonialism & White Supremacy are great resources to think through these tensions, offering some questions to reflect on:  

• How do you resist equating your own lived experiences and histories of oppression with those of other racialized and marginalized groups?  
• How can you deconstruct tools of settler colonialism within your own marginalized community to strengthen bonds of solidarity with Indigenous folks?  
• How can you center humility in collective strides towards sovereignty, liberation and freedom?  

Francis, S. (2016). Oppression Olympics: The Dark Side of the Rainbow. [Article]. Retrieved from: https://pridesource.com/article/75091-2  

What's Coming Up for A-RTL:  

• Join our Applying Anti-Racist Pedagogies in the Classroom (AA-RPC) Cohort: Apply to Join the AARPC Cohort!  
• Fill out this survey for a chance to win a $20.00 gift card to Loafe: Access the A-RTL Survey Here! 

This talk explores aqua nullius as a critical tool of colonisation, including in other settler colonies, that evades detection though constantly morphing, either in response to detection or changes in settler-state laws. Contributing to further engagement with this concept, the talk focuses on Indigenous women‘s water rights as a consideration that is likely to be significantly affected by aqua nullius. Notably, for Australia and elsewhere, we explore the possibility of a double disadvantage—whereby Indigenous women‘s rights to water within international and settler-states systems and their own traditions are targeted and narrowed, effectively rendering Indigenous women invisible.

Date: September 18, 2025
Time: 12:30pm
Location: Beaty Museum, 2212 Main Mall

To support prospective applicants who are seeking Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) funding in the 2026 funding round, the CTLT will hold an online General Information Session on the TLEF. In this session, you will learn about the TLEF criteria and application process, including tips on writing your proposal, developing your budget, and designing evaluation strategies. You will also have an opportunity to meet other applicants who are working on proposals this year.  

Date: September 25, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Online

Curator Pantea Haghighi of the West Vancouver Art Museum sits down with Coast Salish weaver and educator Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Dr. Janice George to discuss how traditional weaving serves as a living practice of cultural preservation, healing, and intergenerational knowledge. The evening will begin with a Traditional Welcome offered by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Elder Skwetsimeltxw Willard (Buddy) Joseph.

Date: September 26, 2025
Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location: West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive

Deepen your writing. Connect with the land. Engage with Truth and Reconciliation. Are you a writer wanting to connect your work to the history of this land? Or an educator looking for guidance on how to approach Truth and Reconciliation? This workshop is designed to support you. 

Join Elder Randy Fred of the Tseshaht First Nation for a creative writing workshop and spirit walk in Vanier Park (sen̓áḵw/sən̓aʔqʷ). This is more than just writing. It is a chance to reflect, listen, and share stories that help with healing and understanding.

Date: September 27, 2025
Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut St

MOA is one of the UBC museums, galleries and gardens which is free to the public for Homecoming on September 20th. 

Keep in mind that UBC students, staff, and faculty enjoy free admission to MOA year-round—just show your valid UBC card at the admissions desk. 

Date: September 20, 2025
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm 
Location: MOA, 6393 NW Marine Drive

In this event, we are excited and honoured to welcome Dr. David Suzuki and Dr. Shane Pointe, who will share their perspectives and experiences on our changing climate. In this era of truth-telling and reckoning with the past, we need one another to spark an urgent call for change—to reset our relationship with Mother Earth and the sacred, finite resources we all share.

Date: September 23, 2025
Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm
Location: UBC Alumni Centre, 6163 University Boulevard

We invite you to join our Reconciliation Reading Circles where we will explore Indigenous literature, both fiction and non-fiction, to broaden our understanding of reconciliation. This month we will discuss Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves. Each month we will also look at sections of Bob Joseph’s 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation With Indigenous Peoples a Reality.

Date: October 19, 2025
Time: 3:00pm - 4:15pm
Location: West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive

"People experiencing homelessness will benefit from continued day-space drop-in services, as the Province extends funding to Watari Counselling and Support Services (Watari) and Aboriginal Front Door Society (AFDS)."