The Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Department resides in and acknowledges Snuneymuxw traditional territory. The Department is also privileged to offer courses on regional campuses in Quw’utsun and Tla’amin traditional territories.
The Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Program is a community-based program founded in 1993 as a special and unique collaborative initiative involving Vancouver Island University (then Malaspina University College), the Snuneymuxw First Nation, Cowichan Tribes, Sna Naw As First Nation, Nuu Chah Nulth Tribal Council, and Kwakwaka’wak communities for the purposes of:
- providing access for local Indigenous students to advanced educational opportunities;
- creating a culturally responsive context for Indigenous students to participate in postsecondary education;
- addressing the need to increase Indigenous student success and completion at the postsecondary level;
- formalizing an Indigenous community presence on campus;
- assuring a multi-cultural teaching and learning environment;
- co-developing a curriculum subject to community input and vetting.
VIU Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Department Emblem
This program was a bold and innovative attempt to achieve "Aboriginal control of Aboriginal education" in a public, postsecondary institution. The BC Ministry of Advanced Education provided special funding in order to create that space, which was unique (and remains so) in Canada. Unlike other Indigenous Studies programs, this program intentionally oriented itself toward its founding communities.