UBC community celebrates launch of new Indigenous Strategic Plan
Created with input from more than 2,500 students, faculty and staff across our campuses – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – as well as from Indigenous community partners, UBC’s new Indigenous Strategic Plan is an important milestone in UBC’s commitment to truth and reconciliation. Launched this month, 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.
“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, plan co-lead and Director, First Nations House of Learning at UBC.
“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.”
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 (Strategy 17: Indigenous Engagement). It seeks to amplify Indigenous voices across our campuses and guide our collective action towards a more just and equitable future for all. Hear from some of UBC’s Indigenous faculty and staff about how their experiences motivated them to get involved with creating the plan.