Indigenous Learning Pathways

Course artwork based on ʔəlqsən (Point Grey) design by Brent Sparrow (Musqueam)

The Indigenous Learning Pathways (ILP) program is a self-directed, multi-course suite of training that supports new employees to meaningfully and respectfully engage with Indigenous histories, knowledges, perspectives, and realities in their role at UBC.  

Through a series of guided activities, reflections, and learning prompts, ILP orients learners to Indigenous focused resources already available to the UBC community, providing tips and ideas for how they can be creatively included and utilized in professional and personal development plans. 

ILP courses

To be taken in sequential order:

1. Beginning Your Learning Journey – introduces learners to cultural principles guiding the program, how to best use the courses based on your own role and learning areas, and the community involved in creating ILP as well as grounding the learning journey ahead in our place on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) land. 
2. Engaging with Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives – supports learners to reflect on their own professional development needs, orients them to the various types of Indigenous-focused resources available at UBC and tips on how to engage with Indigenous resources effectively and respectfully. 
3. Truth Before Reconciliation – explores the impacts of colonization in post-secondary settings and identifies tools and resources to build foundational awareness and necessary truths and collective healing. 
4. Land Acknowledgements at UBC – provides foundational knowledge about what land acknowledgements are, why we do them, and the basic elements of what makes a meaningful, accountable acknowledgment.   

You will find this program useful if you are: 

• Orienting yourself to Indigenous focused resources and programming at UBC  
• Engaging (or preparing to engage) with the Indigenous Strategic Plan 
• Seeking ways to integrate Indigenous knowledges and perspectives into your project, programming, work processes, or curriculum 
• Creating a professional development plan for yourself, your team or your unit  

Time commitment 

Each course will take around 2 hours to complete, for a total of 8 hours’ time commitment for all 4 courses. 

ILP encourages learners to explore, experience, and engage with resources in a way that is both committed and meaningful, providing a variety of prompts and activities to choose from based on individual learning goals. Some activities can be completed online, and some are best experienced in-person on campus, which may involve registration, travel time, or other additional time commitment. While each course is estimated to take 2 hours to work through online, please note that courses may take up to several weeks to engage in the various recommended experiential learning activities chosen by learners. 

For new staff and faculty, consider making your first year at UBC the timeframe for completing ILP. 

Indigenous Strategic Plan  

ILP was developed following the introduction of UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan in 2020, specifically in response to Goal 7: Providing tools for success, responding to UBC’s need to:     

• Action 33: Create a professional development program that assists faculty and staff to foster safe and inclusive classrooms and workplaces.
• Action 34: Develop and deliver Indigenous history and issues training for all faculty and staff to be successfully completed within the first year of employment at UBC and to be reviewed on a regular basis.

Partnerships and collaboration  

We have received generous support from faculty, staff, and program partners across UBC including:  

• Museum of Anthropology 
• First Nations House of Learning 
• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre 
• Belkin Art Gallery 
• Office of Indigenous Strategic Initiatives 
• What I Learned in Class Today  
• Weaving Relations (Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Applied Science, and Faculty of Land a Food Systems) 
• X̱wi7x̱wa Library

Course logo and design elements 

Indigenous Learning Pathways would like to thank xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) artist Brent Sparrow for granting permission to integrate his ʔəlqsən (Point Grey) design into the creation of the ILP logo and course graphics. Sparrow’s artwork is well-known through several public art installations, located at the UBC Vancouver point grey campus, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm qeqən (Musqueam post). The logo borrows from the symbols used in the ʔəlqsən (Point Grey) design to acknowledge and honour the various pathways that can be taken in a journey of learning. 

Questions?

For more information, please contact: info.ilp@ubc.ca.