By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 26, 2014
Currently in British Columbia, 60 First Nations and 110 Indian Act bands are in the process of negotiating treaties.
The disenfranchisement of First Nations peoples by the Canadian government has wide-reaching negative effects and understanding the complexities of colonial history is the first step to healing.
UFV, itself located on traditional Sto:lo territory, is offering a 12-credit certificate which explores the history and future of land claims. The certificate, Indigenous Maps, Films, Rights, and Land Claims, condenses three courses into a four-week semester, running from June 23 to July 17.
The certificate boasts a prestigious group of instructors:
Filmmaker and Canada research chair in Aboriginal studies at UFV Hugh Brody
Associate dean of faculty Ken Brealey
Director and senior archaeologist at the Sto:lo Research and Resource Management Centre at Sto:lo Nation David Schaepe
Naxaxalhts’i (Albert “Sonny” McHalsie), who is the cultural advisor and historian at the same centre.
Courses are:
History 399E: Special topics in History I: Films, Histories and Land
Geography 300F: Special Topics in Geography Maps, Territories and Land
History 396I: Special Topics in North American History: Rights, Title and Land.
Its purpose, according to Brealey, is to “learn something about the history, the development, the challenges, the promises, [and] the perils of prosecuting land claims primarily in British Columbia but also around the world.”
Students will gain awareness of UFV’s place on traditional Sto:lo territory and also where it fits in unresolved title Sto:lo territory.
Brealey notes educating students is vital in appreciating the complexities of land claims. It’s important, he says, “to have students come to the point where they can separate fact from fiction, reality from myth, and understand where these things come from.”
Students from varying disciplines have enrolled in the program in previous years, including business, geography, history, sociology and even non-UFV students from the community. Last year saw 22 graduates, according to Brealey.
While the certificate requires plenty of in-class lecturing (classes run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. four days a week) students can expect some field work. McHalsie, in History 396I, will give a cultural place names and sites tour of the lower Fraser Valley. Brealey explains it’s an opportunity for students to gain insight into the indigenous understanding of the valley.
While this is the only field trip set in stone, the instructors are hoping to expand the field experience part of the certificate.
Brealey notes the proposal of a “collaborative adventure” which would bring over students from South Africa, where Brody has been doing some work on the Kalahari sand land claims. The group may participate in a weekend river tour together.
According to Brealey, previous graduates have landed positions at the Métis national council and in the Indian and Northern affairs Canada claims branch.
While the experience may require some “adventures of the mind,” Brealey says the subject is ultimately relevant, topical, and important.
“[Land claims] seem to hang over our province, our country, and over settler societies in general,” he says.
