Earlier this year, UBC’s First Nations Longhouse celebrated 30 years since its opening in 1993.
The Longhouse is a community hub for Indigenous students, and located within it is the First Nation House of Learning, which maintains and organizes student resources and initiatives.
The Longhouse was initiated by the first director of the First Nations House of Learning, Verna Kirkness. The House of Learning's current associate director Joel Viveiros said Kirkness saw Indigenous students “experiencing difficulties on campus … [and] not being as comfortable on campus as other folks were.”
Kirkness got UBC's approval, then sought donors to fund the project and consulted with Indigenous elders to make a plan.
Now, Viveiros explained, the Longhouse has become a space where “community [is] built [such as] meeting other Indigenous students, making new friends and sharing.”
The Longhouse also hosts cultural events and weekly student lunches.
It is also home to the šxʷta:təχʷəm Collegium which helps Indigenous students join a community to ask questions, learn about campus resources and enjoy social events together. The collegium focuses on collective leadership; rather than having one lead advisor, they have eight advisors who share the space and responsibility.
The design of the Longhouse features traditional Coast Salish architecture where the slanted roof is designed to resemble the wing of a bird in flight. Viveiros explained that to celebrate the diversity of First Nations in the surrounding area, various artists from the Tlingit, Gitxsan, Haisla, Haida, and Musqueam First Nations have contributed aspects of their long-established architecture for poles and celebratory doors.
The Longhouse hosted a commemorative dinner and tours earlier this summer to mark the 30 year anniversary, and will continue to host events throughout the year starting in January with the grand opening of the Longhouse’s new east wing.
While this 30-year milestone is undoubtedly something to celebrate, the Longhouse is continuing to update and improve its services. Matterport, an online platform where you can take a 360° virtual tour of the Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall will soon be updated so that “when you click on [a piece inside the Longhouse], take a look, there'll be a box that pops up that gives you more information about each of those artists or pieces in that space,” Vivieros adds.
Looking further, a new time capsule project is open for submissions, which will be sealed away and opened on the Longhouse’s 60th anniversary. The First Nations House of Learning invites current Indigenous students, faculty, and staff to submit items that are personally meaningful, culturally significant, and or reflective of the UBC Indigenous community today.