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Land, diversity, and belonging

A woman sits on the banks of the Vedder river with a mountain in the background.

Land Acknowledgement

Éy Swáyel, Hello Friends!

To explore Health and Wellness on the UFV campus, we must recognize the longstanding history and relationship First Nations, Indigenous, and Métis communities have with land and community. The Stó:lō First Nations are the original keepers of the land of the Fraser Valley and lower Fraser Canyon of British Columbia, as they have defined S’olk Temexw, our sacred land. UFV honours the continuous (past, present, and future) contributions that Aboriginal people have on our lands and community. This land recognition acknowledgment is an act and commitment towards decolonization and working in solidarity with Indigenous people toward truth and reconciliation. Colonialism is a current and ongoing process. Through our work, we will make salient efforts to decolonize health and wellness practices and bring awareness to the many ways of knowing.

Learn more about UFV’s commitment to Indigenization

 

Diversity & belonging in Student Wellness

From a statement to core principles

At Student Wellness, we believe that it's not enough to create a single statement expressing our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Acknowledging diversity, equity, and inclusion requires careful and continuous consideration. We recognize five core principles guiding the department's policies, procedures, programming, and events. The sustainability of EDI requires ongoing assessment to acknowledge and address the barriers, prejudices, and biases that hinder our ability to commit to these core principles.

As we establish a healthy Student Wellness culture, we will ask ourselves how we are reflecting on the importance of these guiding principles, committing to these guiding principles, and what changes are necessary to ensure these principles guide us.

 

Guiding principles

1

Student-ready university

As part of the UFV Integrated Strategic Plan, the Students Division has committed to meeting students through four pillars that define a student-ready university. These four pillars include Student Engagement and Voice, Inclusivity, Supportive Developmental and Usable and User-Friendly. As we develop the peer leadership program within the Student Wellness Department, we will build policies, services, and procedures on these pillars.

 

2

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)

UFV has committed to ensuring departments and services recognize diversity and offer equitable opportunities and inclusion for all community members.

Our department recognizes that we are bound by institutional policies and procedures, which perpetuate marginalization and discrimination against members of our student population. As a team, we will make significant efforts to reduce these challenges by recognizing our positionality, acknowledging biases, hearing and amplifying voices and stories, and utilizing an EDI lens to mitigate these experiences within our department, wellness centre, events, and programming.

The pillars of peer leadership begin with compassion and acceptance, leaving space for others to hold liberal and/or conservative belief systems. We will continue to establish a culture that embodies respect and an environment where people are comfortable sharing their thoughts and activism to challenge biases that harm others.

Learn more about UFV's EDI Guidelines and Action plan.

Get additional info at the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion website.

 

3

Indigenization and decolonization (decolonizing health and wellness)

The First Nations, Aboriginal and Metis communities of Canada are leading efforts to rehabilitate and restore Indigenous ways of knowing that have been lost to colonization. Indigenization is the process of incorporating and recognizing Indigenous people and traditional ways of knowing and being within the educational process, including policy and pedagogy. This work is led by Indigenous elders, people, and communities.

For non-Indigenous allies and supporters, we commit to deconstructing the impacts of colonization through decolonization efforts. This means ensuring Indigenous voices are honoured through the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Calls for Justice, and UFV’s Strategic Indigenization Plan. Further, it recognizes how colonization impacts our approach and understanding of health and wellness and attempts to address these barriers.

As the Wellness Centre is a space for all beings, we work in solidarity to support Indigenization and Decolonization practices within the University. As a department, our initiatives include supporting decolonizing health and wellness to recognize the many ways people celebrate and honour their health and wellness.

Learn more about decolonizing wellness.

 

4

Internationalization

The UFV community is derived from many intercultural elements, including cultural, racial and language diversity. The internationalization process of courses and programs assists with recognizing the importance of incorporating diversified perspectives, skills, and techniques that contribute to the betterment of the global community.

The Wellness Centre will work towards recognizing the diversity of our wellness team and the larger community. Recognizing the cultural and linguistic assets the student volunteers bring to the team will assist with the advancement of each other. We will support the team to be open and honest about their cultural identities to ensure those perspectives are incorporated within the development of the peer-to-peer program.

Get more information on internationalization at UFV.

 

5

Sustainability

Access to sustainable health, wellness, and wellbeing is a fundamental right recognized by the UN Sustainability Goals (SDG). At Student Wellness we understand that health, wellness, and wellbeing cannot exist without ecological, economical, and relational sustainability. The connection between the SDG’s five P’s: planet, people, prosperity, peace, and partnership will be the guiding framework to meet sustainability efforts outlined by Indigenous knowledge keepers, UFV Sustainability Office and the UN 2030 Agenda. 

The UFV Sustainability office is the stewardship toward awareness, promotion, and accountability of the sustainability goals. Through collaboration with UFV Sustainability Office and the many UFV department championing their commitments to SDG, we at Student Wellness will be apart of the efforts to create change and develop sustainable health initiatives for UFV students.

Get more information on UFV's Office of Sustainability.

Learn more about the UN 2030 Agenda.

 

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