UBC’s renewed Indigenous Strategic Plan is an important milestone in UBC’s commitment to truth and reconciliation.
“We want to ensure our campuses are places where Indigenous students, scholars and knowledge keepers truly feel welcome and are able to reach their fullest potential. We want our campuses to prominently reflect and celebrate cultures and traditions of the Indigenous peoples on whose territories they are located,” says Dr. Margaret Moss, plan co-lead and Director, First Nations House of Learning at UBC.
Reconciliation Pole, Hereditary Chief 7idansuu (James Hart), Haida. Photo credit: Hover Collective / UBC Brand & Marketing
Launched this fall, the plan represents a university-wide response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice. It also represents the UBC Vancouver campus’ response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
UBC is the first university in North America to commit to implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to take a human rights-based approach to its Indigenous strategic framework.
“We’ve come a long way over the past decade in particular, but the engagement process highlighted the reality that there’s still a long road ahead in order for us to see our Indigenous students, faculty, staff and partners not just survive but thrive,” says Dr. Margaret Moss.
The plan, intended as a guiding framework for faculties, units and portfolios to develop their own plans, outlines eight goals and 43 actions the university will collectively take to advance its vision of UBC as a leading university globally in the implementation of Indigenous peoples’ human rights.
It was developed with the guidance of Indigenous Elders, leaders, and other experts, and through extensive dialogue and input from over 2,500 Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, faculty, staff, and other members of the UBC community.
The Focus on People 2025 framework elevates the work of the Indigenous Strategic Plan, particularly through Catalyst #1, which supports actions that create a diverse, inclusive, safe and vibrant environment for those who work at the university.
Visit the UBC Strategic Plan website to learn more about how UBC is supporting the objectives and actions of the renewed Indigenous Strategic Plan.