Thread by @UbysseyNews

#UBCBoG Verbal update on the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.

Szeri: We're negotiating some important agreements that will allow for the appropriate protection and privacy for the data and agreement within the university about affiliation with the library.

Szeri: We also secured approval from Senate to be a Centre. ubyssey.ca/news/irshdc-be…

Turpel-Lafond: Have hosted and engaged with hundreds of visitors, students.

Turpel-Lafond: Had an opportunity to convene dialogue — an important mandate of the centre. The first dialogue was held at the Musqueam with a gathering of Indigenous legal experts from across Canada. "It was a pathbreaking meeting."

Turpel-Lafond: With Musqueam, there's a lot of demand for them to come to us. I want to make sure there's a two-way street and not just one way. There's a lot of dialogue about the UNDRIP with provincial ministers, national chiefs, leaders in sectors, etc. There'll be a report.

We need UBC to be host these dialogues and be at the centre of change ... I think the external relations was a bit overwhelmed so they are going to catch up but it's going to take a while.

The NCTR hasn't launched as successfully, they haven't put all the full collection online

The IRSHDC has now worked out an agreement with the Library on how repatriate knowledge and data.

She said the centre want to link up more with the national centre and we need to have privacy protection, especially for testimonies of survivors. We're just getting ready to do so

She said the centre is not ready yet but it is working toward that goal. The centre hasn't been able to host dialogue with faculty — ex: faculty of education — to see what the faculty would like use the space and collaborate. "We need to be doing significantly more."

There's high respect for the role of UBC in this process. There's always room for improve. What I feel supported about is that we expect this to be world class.

Some ambitious projects ahead: working to have a national calibre curated exhibit and materials, thinking about working with the UN and BC chiefs on how the UNDRIP was created and how that creation is a continuation of a tradition of Indigenous diplomacy.

"We don't want a small thing. We want it to have the right level of recognition."

This centre has been a lot of external. We'll need an increase in our budget. We do have some partners though that will support us. There's a lot of repair and there has to be that respect.

Korenberg: Is there value in UBC in setting up a campaign that support Indigenous students, especially at graduate level, that can help what the centre is doing?
Szeri: We already have a match in place.
Turpel-Lafond supports the idea.

It takes a lot of skills and resources to get into UBC and many Indigenous students can't get through those barriers. We should be using our resources and use our networks to go to the communities and support them.

When I walk on campus, I think about Indigenous alumni.

Turpel-Lafond: Many Indigenous peoples are re-connecting with their communities following the impact of Indian Residential School, etc. But there are also people who are deeply connected with their communities and we seem to miss them.

Gordon: How is the space structured for public education about Indigeneity?
TL: The space for that is open now. To have the first exhibit, we want to coincide it with Congress 2019 which is in June to capture a lot of academics in the area.

TL: Also want to curate the space to reflect resilience instead of shock. We also want to build it through time in partnership with places like Vancouver Public Library.

UBC is not the easiest place to visit so having connections with downtown campus, UBCO is important