Kinwa Bluesky developed an affinity for the law early on. Clair Huxtable, the matriarch on the Cosby Show was a lawyer, and, at the age of eight, Kinwa decided that she wanted to be a lawyer like Clair. Forces closer to home have also shaped her legal interests. She is writing her PhD thesis under the supervision of Gordon Christie, Steve Wexler and John Burrows on how Indigenous law is expressed through the creation of art in Gitksan, Coast Salish and Anishinabe communities. It is a topic that resonates with Kinwa on a personal level. "I am an Anishinabe artist, " she explains, "as is everyone in my family. I learned about who I am and will become through our art."

Kinwa’s research project represents the culmination of many years of reflection on indigenous issues, first as an anthropology student at the University of British Columbia and then as a burgeoning legal scholar at the University of Victoria (LLB 2004, LLM 2006). Along the way, she has contributed to a number of different indigenous projects, including as a community liaison for the Environics Institute’s Urban Aboriginal People’s Study and as a research assistant with a consulting firm in New Zealand that specializes in Maori small business development. Currently, she is working with the Government/Non Profit Initiative to foster more meaningful collaboration between the provincial government and the non-profit sector.

When she completes her PhD, Kinwa would like to teach law in Canada and continue to research Indigenous legal theory and art. "I have learned to feel inspired by my work. I want to pursue my interests while digging deeper into how I can contribute to living a better life for myself, my family, my community and beyond." Considering her thesis topic, it should come as no surprise that she also derives inspiration from the Capilano Warrior House Post, installed in the Spring of 2012 at the west end of Allard Hall. She claims to get some of her most creative writing done in the graduate student lounge overlooking the House Post. "I love it. It makes me feel like an Indigenous superheroine."

Visit the graduate students website to learn more about UBC Law’s graduate degree programs.

Photo by Martin Dee

In 2007 when a punctured pipeline owned by Kinder Morgan leaked oil in Burrard Inlet, members of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, led by Chief Leah D. George-Wilson, were immediately on the ground for the cleanup.

“My role as Chief was to ensure that the titles and lands of our people are protected, that our voice is heard, and that our concerns and issues are not brushed aside,” explained George-Wilson, who graduates from UBC Law this May.

George-Wilson and members of her band were soon at the negotiating table with Kinder Morgan to discuss a protocol agreement. Since the spill, Kinder Morgan has financially contributed to the on-going resourcing of the region’s Marine Stewardship Program. Implemented by the Tsleil-Waututh, the program funds pollution assessments of Inlet waters and salmon enhancement initiatives.

George-Wilson was the first woman to be elected Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, a position she held from 2001 and 2003 and again from 2005 and 2009. Prior to this, she worked with the community in various capacities including serving on the BC Treaty Process negotiating team.

Law school was a natural career path for George-Wilson, who had spent the last 18 years finding equitable and constitutional ways to protect the rights of the Tsleil-Waututh within their traditional territory. In 2009, she decided to take an educational leave from her duties and soon joined UBC Law.

“As a mature student, I really tried to help the younger Aboriginal students,” she said. “In many cases, law school is a completely different environment from where they came from. It’s like its own world. I wanted to make sure that other First Nations students didn’t feel alone.”

George-Wilson was an active member of the Indigenous Law Students Association and also sat on the admissions committee.

“I provided feedback on the Aboriginal applications that came through. There was always a lot of discussion around admissions and I brought what I thought was important to consider from an Aboriginal perspective.”

Currently, George-Wilson is articling with the West Vancouver-based law firm Ashcroft and Company where she can continue her work with the First Nations community.

Remembering her time at UBC, she says, “It was an enriching and enlightening experience. I never thought I would say I would miss law school, but I miss it. I don’t miss churning out papers and sweating out exams, but I miss the camaraderie.”

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The First Nations House of Learning (FNHL) was established in 1987 as a unit within the President’s office with a mandate to make the University’s resources more accessible to Aboriginal peoples, and improve the University’s ability to meet the needs of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities and students. Originally housed in a now demolished wartime hut on Biological Sciences Road, in 1993 the House of Learning moved into the new UBC First Nations Longhouse.

The Longhouse and Xwi7xwa Library were officially opened on May 25th, 1993 to an audience of over 1000 guests. It was the result of nearly five years of dedicated work by students, elders, faculty, staff, and community, who shared a vision to create a home away from home for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit students. The Longhouse reflects the architectural traditions of the Northwest Coast, and at the request of Musqueam Chief and Council, is modeled after the traditional Musqueam-style shed. Xwi7xwa Library is built in the style of a traditional Interior Salish pit house.

Over the past 20 years, the Longhouse has hosted countless feasts, ceremonies, celebrations, conferences, and other gatherings. Hundreds of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit graduates have entered Sty-Wet-Tan through the ceremonial door to be honoured by the Longhouse community, their friends, and family.

Since its opening, the Longhouse has served as a centre for the many programs and services that have been developed for Aboriginal students at the University. While these have changed over the years to respond to the shifting needs of students, they have always been guided by the teachings of our late Elder Tsimilano (Vince Stogan): respect, relationships, responsibility and reverence.

On April 19, 2013, university leaders, faculty, staff, students, and other guests came together to celebrate this history and to recognize the Directors, staff, faculty, students, community members and artists who have made lasting contributions over the past 25 years. Those who have passed were honoured through song by Victor and Kweyacan Guerin of Musqueam. Sty-Wet-Tan Hall was brought alive by cultural performances from Coastal Wolf Pack, the Git Hayetsk Dancers, and Métis Dancers. After a salmon dinner, guests joined hands for a round dance.

This film, which was screened at the event, explores the history and legacy of the First Nations House of Learning, the Longhouse and the Xwi7xwa library. It explores the establishment of the Longhouse and how it has served as a centre for First Nations programs, services, students, and Aboriginal communities from around the world. In the film, we hear from each of the Directors of the First Nations House of Learning and the founding Head Librarian of Xwi7xwa Library. They speak to the Longhouse’s origins, its spirituality, and its importance to the success of Aboriginal students at UBC.

Six years later, in May, 1993, The House of Learning moved into the UBC First Nations Longhouse, an impressive building made possible by the dedication and hard work of students, faculty, staff, and community.

On Friday, April 19th, UBC will be celebrating 20 years since the opening of the First Nations Longhouse and the 25th Anniversary of the First Nations House of Learning.

Please join us in Sty-Wet-Tan, the Great Hall of the First Nations House of Learning as we mark this important milestone by celebrating the achievements of the past 25 years.

UBC First Nations Longhouse and House of Learning Anniversary Celebration
Friday, April 19th, 2013

Acknowledgements & Presentations starting at 3:00 PM
Buffet Dinner at 6:00 PM
Round Dance at 7:00 PM
Cultural Performances Throughout

University of British Columbia
First Nations Longhouse
1985 West Mall, Vancouver

Shared past of Chinese farmers and Musqueam Nation unearthed by student Sarah Ling. Photograph by Martin Dee.

Shared past of Chinese farmers and Musqueam Nation unearthed by student Sarah Ling with the help of the Community Learning Initiative

Elder Larry Grant is a well-known figure around campus, welcoming visitors to the Musqueam territory where the university is located. But few realize that his ancestry offers historians a clue about a little-known period of Vancouver’s past.

Throughout the 20th century, farmers from Guangdong, China moved to the fertile flatlands along the Fraser River, also traditional Musqueam land, to live and work, supplying much of the Lower Mainland’s produce. Grant’s father was one of these Chinese market gardeners. His mother was a Musqueam woman who had grown up on the reserve.

Grant’s family farm grew an assortment of Chinese and Western vegetables. One of his favourite memories from his childhood was being allowed to wander around the farms in the summertime and pull vegetables right out of the ground. He says that he and his siblings didn’t have to go home for lunch, they could just eat on the run. Grant, who first attended school in Chinatown, was introduced to Chinese cuisine around the dining table in the farm cookhouse, where he often ate with farmers and farmhands.

When master’s student Sarah Ling heard about Grant’s lineage while working on the Chinese Canadian Stories project with Professor Henry Yu, she started to investigate the relationships between these Chinese farmers, their families, and the Musqueam Nation.

The Musqueam community as well as Chinese descendants of the market gardeners were eager to find out more about their shared past.

“This history is alive in people’s memories but it’s harder for others to learn these stories if it isn’t documented,” says Ling, who learned about her own family history and their ties to B.C. First Nations while researching her roots online. Her great-great uncle, Mah Bon Quen, was the first Chinese merchant in Prince Rupert. He traded with local First Nations and fathered the first Chinese baby in the city.

Team records oral histories

Ling and a team from Musqueam decided to record oral histories and recreate maps of the reserve during that time. At the same time, community members could gain skills and establish procedures for documenting histories for future projects.

Ling’s research interests as a student in the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program include the revitalization of marginalized histories between Chinese and First Nations peoples in B.C. She and her colleagues received a Chapman Innovation Grant from the Community Learning Initiative that allowed Ling to spend her summer break working, living and learning side-by-side with Musqueam colleagues.

“Graduates who participate in community based experiential learning achieve a strong set of transferable professional skills with an ability to draw on self-knowledge to refine career goals, as well as consider their personal values in decision-making processes,” says Susan Grossman, director of the Community Learning Initiative.

With the CLI grant and funding from the Musqueam Language and Culture Department, Ling worked with Musqueam and an oral history instructor to create standardized oral-history interview forms that the community can use for future projects. She and Musqueam youth Faith Sparrow-Crawford, who now studies at UBC, learned interview skills to film the stories through an oral history program. The project team also spent extensive time collecting and digitizing archival records and family photographs.

The 18 interviews conducted by Ling and Sparrow-Crawford revealed that the Musqueam and Chinese farmers created a truly integrated community. For instance, many Chinese farmers shared their produce with the community. They were grateful to be welcomed and to raise their families on Musqueam land.

“Musqueam is their home. They’re Chinese, completely Chinese, but their whole life growing up was here in Musqueam,” said Grant during his interviews for the Chinese Canadian Stories project.

“A lot of intercultural history happened and there is a lot we can learn from,” says Ling.

To learn more about Elder Larry Grant’s experiences being of mixed ancestry, visit: http://aboriginal.ubc.ca/2012/04/27/elder-larry-grant-featured-by-ubc-chinese-canadian-stories-project/.

The 2013 FNSP Practicum Student Researchers.

This year’s group of First Nations Studies Program Practicum Student Researchers will be presenting their Practicum Projects in the Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall on Monday, April 8th.

All are welcome to attend this free event and learn about the exciting research projects that the Practicum students have designed and implemented in collaboration with their host Aboriginal organizations and First Nations Communities in the lower mainland. Light refreshments will be provided.

Monday, April 8th, 2013
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Sty-Wet-Tan Hall, First Nations House of Learning, UBC (1985 West Mall)
Free and open to the public.

Schedule as follows:

1:00    Welcome and Introductions

1:15   Andrea Reid, The Longhouse Council of Native Ministry
         "Envisioning Community: An Examination of Processes of Community Development and Engagement"

1:45   Lydia Ruenzel, The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Resource Centre
         "The Louise Mandell Legal Research Collection: Creating a Living Library"

2:15   Robyn Putnam, Aboriginal HIPPY Canada
          "Aboriginal HIPPY Stories: Connecting Culture and Education in Aboriginal Communities"

2:45   Eden Imbeau, Women Against Violence Against Women Rape Crisis Centre
          "Sacred Footprints Youth Group: Funding, Sustainability, and Future Aboriginal Leaders"

3:15   Matthew Norris, Kwikwetlem First Nation
           "Responsible, Reciprocal Research: Oral History Research in Indigenous Communities"

Rick Jeffery has 30 years’ experience in the coast forestry sector of British Columbia. President & CEO of Coast Forest Products Association since 2004, Rick represents the interests of forestry companies up and down the BC coast ensuring that they have fair access to the global marketplace and are supported by government policy. With a focus on strategy, negotiation, policy and stakeholder relations, Rick has worked with elected officials and senior bureaucrats as a government relations consultant and overseen strategic planning, business development and First Nations’ issues within the private sector. Rick is a Professional Forester and holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of Alberta.