As we approach the end of term with shorter days and rain... so much rain... we hope that you have opportunities to gather with others surrounded by warm beverages and tasty treats ☕ 

Speaking of treats, if you are on the hunt for gifts with the holiday season approaching we encourage you to support local creators and businesses. Consider checking out these craft fairs: 

• Musqueam Christmas Craft Fair 2025 
  • Date: November 22 and 23, 2025 
  • Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm 
  • Location: Musqueam Community Centre, 6777 Salish Drive 
• Tsleil Waututh Nation Christmas Craft Fair 
  
  • Date: December 6 and 7, 2025
    
  • Location: Tsleil Waututh Gym, 3010 Sleil Waututh Rd
• Squamish Nation's Christmas Market
  
  • Date: December 13 and 14
    Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm
    
  • Location: Chief Joe Mathais Centre, 100 Lower Capilano R
    

Artificial Intelligence (AI) requires large amounts of data to function; that data comes from somewhere, and from someone(s). You may have heard of Indigenous data sovereignty; we’re going to highlight why it’s a particularly important principle to consider when engaging with AI.

UBC CTLT Indigenous Initiatives has been enhancing TA training for over a decade, focusing on respectful engagement with Indigenous content inside the classroom. The Classroom Climate TA training program aims to create a classroom environment grounded in understanding the long presence and histories of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples as well as our own historical, social, and physical locations. By engaging with the teachings and resources shared by the Musqueam community, TAs become more aware of how their social positions have an impact on classroom climate, especially when engaging with Indigenous perspectives and fostering equity and inclusion for everyone in the classroom.  Classroom Climate TA training supports TAs uphold Indigenous presence and resurgence at UBC today. 

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.

Date: November 27, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Location: Room 2.22, IKBLC

The Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning (A-RTL) team at the CTLT is excited to offer another installment of “Building Capacity” a networking, wellness, and educational space offered to the IBPOC identifying teaching and learning community during the CTLT Winter InstituteBuildi. This installment of Building Capacity is grounded in the Indigenous scholarship of Leanne Simpson, particularly their body of work, the “Constellations of Co-Resistance”. This networking and facilitated learning session will explore the notion of building and sustaining trust, compassion, courage and wellness through the key aspects of co-resistance: community roundedness, decolonial love, interconnected struggles, reclaiming narratives, embodied praxis, alternatives to western structures, and focusing on radical futures.

Date: December 8, 2025
Time: 1:45pm - 3:30pm
Location: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 214-1961 E Mall

Often when discussing the representations and realities of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer (2SIQ) people, there is a focus on the history and attempted erasure of gender and sexual diversity within Indigenous communities. However, that attempt was not successful. While we have been left with complexities to address and untangle, the stories and kinship practices have not only survived they have flourished anew.

Added to this complexity is the new reality of learning and connecting with one another online as we attempt to locate resources and transfer cultural knowledge in a virtual world. Join us for this session as we explore where we have been and shift our focus into contemporary spaces and embodiments of queer Indigenous joy and surthrivance.

Date: December 10, 2025
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: Peña Room, IKBLC

We are excited to be hosting special guests Hali McLennan and Anne Sinclair from Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing (IMHW), and Gloria Cardinal from the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVRPO) for an opportunity to learn about Indigenous student mental health and wellbeing in the classroom. Within this session, facilitators will share about the important work they do to support Indigenous students, explore common issues in the classroom that can impact Indigenous student experiences and approaches to mental health and wellbeing from each of their respective offices. 

Date: January 15, 2026
Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Location: Zoom

What does it mean to design evaluation in ways that center community accountability, build trust, and challenge colonial assumptions? The Indigenous Initiatives Evaluation Series is a three-part interactive workshop series hosted by CTLT Indigenous Initiatives. This series invites UBC faculty, staff, and students to reimagine how we assess success and impact; moving towards more relational, community-centered approaches to evaluation.

Over three interactive sessions, you’ll be guided through deep self-reflection, hands-on activities, and conversations that support the development of your personal decolonial evaluation practices.

If you are unable to participate during the outlined dates or are interested in a future offering, please fill out this form.

Date: February 3, 10, 24 2026
Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall

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: 

• December 4, 2025
• January 20, 2026
• February 25, 2026

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

It’s November already, another month to reflect on and action anti-racist solidarity! This month, on November 20th, it is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). This month's newsletter and resources have been beautifully curated by Kyle Shaughnessy, an Educational Consultant: Staff Training, bridged between the Indigenous Initiatives Team and Central Human Resources at UBC.  

Decolonization and anti-racist work and practice extend far beyond the lands and experiences of Indigenous peoples of “Canada”. Colonial violence takes many forms and harmfully impacts the global majority, including violence directed towards gender and sexually diverse people. It has been statistically proven that those disproportionately experiencing the most persistent forms of colonial violence are IBPOC individuals of gender and sexual diversity, particularly Indigenous and Black trans women of colour.  

It’s important to both make space for the joy of what it means to be trans and acknowledge the unacceptable realities of ongoing harm, danger, and discrimination faced by trans folks. Not just historically, but still ongoing today. When we stand in solidarity with other nations and communities experiencing colonial harm, we strengthen our voices and collective movements. 

Carrying your learning forward?  

• Sign-up for our upcoming workshop on December 10th, From Reverence to Erasure to Queer Indigenous Joy: Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Realities Over Time 
• Keep updated on events happening around UBC to commemorate Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance: Visit this link  
• Prefer to watch and learn? Here are three documentaries we recommend checking out to learn more about transgender lives and communities: Major! , Paris is Burning , The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson 

What's Coming Up for A-RTL:  

• December 8th, 2025, from 2pm-3:30pm Building Capacity for the IBPOC Teaching and Learning Community: Confluence and Constellations–Reflecting on an Intersectional Approach to Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning, register here: A-RTL Winter Institute Programming  
  
• Fill out this survey for a chance to win a $20.00 gift card to Loafe: Access the A-RTL Survey Here! 

The Indigenous Science Colloquium invites Indigenous students, faculty, staff, and community members to a session of the Indigenous Science Colloquium Series: A Conversation with Indigenous Scholars featuring Dr. Ranalda Tsosie.

Ranalda Tsosie is an Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at New Mexico Tech located in Socorro, NM. Her research focuses on Indigenous science, community-based water management, resilience to climate impacts, and contaminant exposures in Indigenous lands. She leads work in Indigenous data and water sovereignty in partnership with Native communities. Ranalda emphasizes approaches that respect Indigenous research sovereignty while addressing urgent environmental challenges.

Date: November 25, 2025
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Location: Buchanan Block A

Participants will have the opportunity to listen to Indigenous panelists who are experts in supporting ethical and respectful research by, with and for Indigenous people and/or researchers who practice Indigenous data sovereignty. The workshop will foster a space of reflection regarding research proposals, ethics applications by/with/for Indigenous peoples ensuring protection of Indigenous peoples and communities from harmful research including respecting their collective rights to have sovereignty, ownership, stewardship, control and management of their own knowledge, data and stories and to determine if, how, when and with whom intellectual property is shared.

Date: November 26, 2025
Time: 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Location: UBCO & Zoom

Please join us for the next CER Storyteller event featuring Dr. Jeannette Armstrong in conversation with Dr. Christine Schreyer! Jeannette Armstrong (lax̌lax̌tkʷ) is syilx Okanagan, a fluent speaker, language teacher and knowledge keeper of Syilx Okanagan and oral histories. She is a Professor at UBC Okanagan and Coordinator of Interior Salishan Languages programs. Her PhD is in environmental ethics from a syilx perspective. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada‘s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. She is a lifetime fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an officer of the Order of Canada.

Date: November 27, 2025
Time: 11:30am - 1:30pm
Location: UBCO & Online

The Computer Science Book Club is hosting a few upcoming sessions that may be of interest. The audience is students, graduate and undergraduate, who are book enthusiasts, staff, faculty, and community members on a case by case basis. We focus especially in STEM departments (e.g. CS, MATH, ECE, STATS), to provide an unmet need in those communities. 

• January 15, 2026: Imagining AI: How the World Sees Intelligent Machines — 13. Imagining Indigenous AI, Jason Edward Lewis 
• March 12, 2026: Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy — Chapter 6: Indigenous Self-Determination and Data Governance in the Canadian Policy Context, Robyn K. Rowe, Julie R. Bull, and Jennifer D. Walker

Tracing the ancient threads of Northwest Coast weaving and spinning practices through the technologies of today, Jaad Kuujus‘s art moves between generations, time, place, and mediums. Beyond the creation of replicas, her interconnected digital and material practice gives rise to descendant works — woven embodiments of kinship with the belongings, materials, and ancestors that inspire them.

A RENEWED PUSH for resource development is underway in British Columbia (B.C.). We can expect violence to follow. 

The recently passed Bills 14 and 15 and Federal Bill C-5 have contributed to fast-tracking projects considered to be in “Canada‘s interest” (the economic, environmental, cultural, and legal considerations of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) development are outlined in a recent Yellowhead Institute report). But there is more to the conversation including how the expansion of LNG within Northern B.C. — Coastal GasLink (CGL), Ksi Lisims LNG, and the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project — contributes to an increased threat of violence against Indigenous women. 

The University of Toronto‘s Indigenous Research Network (IRN) is strengthening international partnerships to establish the International Indigenous Research Consortium in alignment with its 2022-2027 strategic plan. The consortium‘s vision is to foster global collaboration and knowledge exchange on Indigenous-led research, ensuring that Indigenous community priorities, Indigenous research methodologies, data sovereignty and research ethics are at the forefront and respected in academic settings.