The Board of Governors meeting at UBCO today included a presentation from Dr. Jeanette Armstrong, assistant professor of Indigenous Studies in Kelowna. She told the board members about the Indigenous Studies program they have cultivated at the Okanagan campus and spoke about how important community-based programming is. It’s hard but worth it because there are many people, in that area particularly, living with the aftereffects of the carnage incurred on generations of Canadians by the residential schools system. They need to be engaged in programs like this.
John Montalbano had the distinction of being the only person in the room who asked Dr. Armstrong a question in the discussion period following her presentation. He said that he had been to a lot of land acknowledgement ceremonies and that they all felt hollow somehow. However, the re-signing of the agreement between the Okanagan First Nations and UBC on the tenth anniversary of this campus, he said, felt meaningful. This one felt genuine. Montalbano asked her, "How can we learn from that? In your opinion, is there anything we can take away from yesterday and apply it to other places?"
I know what he meant. Reasons are rarely given as to why we do the land acknowledgement (the board doesn't do one at all). If we never explain why we say that acknowledgement, when will anyone learn? It has become a lip service — you and I have heard the word unceded so many times that anything we may have learned from it has long since been washed away in the repetitions.
Armstrong told him that there is community engagement here. First Nations leaders are able to communicate why their communities should care about this university and what it does for them. It’s about real engagement from the institution to try and understand.
She looked around at the rest of the board – the cell phone glows, the open laptops, the empty seats with their occupants pouring coffee and picking out pieces of banana bread. "I want to get to know each and every one of you," she said.
We learn French. We know the face of the Queen. We can recite the names of Jaques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain and Captain Vancouver – do you remember the name of a single Musqueam chief? I don’t. This is a university. Coming to terms with the fact that our country is built on the broken backs of others is a challenge like no other because it forces you to not only see others differently, but to see yourself differently.
UBC is not like other universities. It squats on the land of others with powerful limbs and moneyed robes. Because of this, it is in a unique position to challenge and teach its community in a way that most other universities don't. It can give tangible examples of why empathy, respect and meaningful understanding of other perspectives are valuable skills to have – not just acknowledging them, but really understanding them and being able to relate them to your own experiences.
The land acknowledgement is a good start, but there is so much more than just repeating words that could be done.
Moira Warburton is a fifth-year political science major and News Editor at The Ubyssey.