Xwelítem Siyáya: Allyship and Reconciliation Building
The UFV Peace and Reconciliation Centre (PARC), in partnership with the Stó:lō Nation, the Stó:lō Tribal Council, the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, and the Stó:lō Grand Chief’s Council, is launching a new, collaborative program initiative: Xwelítem Siyáya: Allyship and Reconciliation Building. This program seeks to help build people’s capacity for reconciliation-building by teaching the importance of authentic allyship and providing skills for building relationships between colonial settlers and Indigenous communities here in the Fraser Valley and beyond.
The program
2023 SOLD OUT
This program will run from this February 28th to December 2023 and will consist of a mixture of presentations, workshops, and hands-on land-based learning opportunities, where participants will be guided in developing the knowledge and empathy necessary for becoming effective and respectful allies to local Indigenous communities.
Registered participants will be required to attend the lecture presentations and choose from a suite of elective interactive workshops where they will learn about Stó:lō people’s relationship to the lands and waters of this region.
After completing the program, people will have developed a deeper understanding of what it means to be an ally, and how to embrace the goal of being in a constant state of learning and unlearning, relationship building, and transformative action.
Topics
Topics that will be covered in this program include, but are not limited to, Lands and Resources, Settler Colonialism, Governance, Assimilation and Residential Schools, and Culture and Spirituality.
Among the elective workshops will be drum making, cedar bark weaving, placename tours, introductions to the Halq'eméylem language, introductions to Chinook jargon, and other land-based learning experiences.