Chan Centre Concert Hall

Festival welcome from xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Councillor Alec Guerin, followed by a performance by traditional Salish song and dance group Tsatsu Stalqayu (Coastal Wolf Pack).

Chan Centre Concert Hall

Performance by Juno-nominated Canadian folk music duo Burnstick, comprised of Plains-Cree guitarist Jason Burnstick and Métis vocalist Nadia Burnstick. An audience Q&A will follow their performance.

Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC)

Join Elder Jacquie Bouvier at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre for a medicine bag-making workshop! This gathering welcomes new and returning Indigenous students and campus community to connect with each other in a supportive space. Take part in a facilitated workshop and make a medicine bag, and stay for conversations on learning, wellness, and cultural joy.

Capacity of 20, first-come-first-served

Museum of Anthropology (MOA)

The Cultural Interpreters Program brings the voices and perspectives of Indigenous UBC student tour guides from a range of First Nations and cultural backgrounds to the forefront. Visitors learn more about the MOA collection through Indigenous perspectives and gain deeper understanding from the Cultural Interpreters who share personal and community connections to the belongings and treasures in the Museum. You can learn more about Indigenous access and engagement opportunities here.

Capacity of 30, first-come-first-served

Belkin Art Gallery

90 minutes, 1.5-2km

The Decolonization Tour highlights site-specific artworks by Indigenous artists and raises questions around issues of place, space and identity. Considering how these works address urgent social and political concerns, we’ll discuss ideas about settler colonialism, decolonization, reconciliation, protocol and the history of UBC’s Vancouver campus, which is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

The Decolonization Tour includes work by:

• Brent Sparrow Jr. (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), sʔi:ɬqəy̓ qeqən (2016)

• Ellen Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw), Victory Through Honour (1948/2004)

• Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne, Arapaho), Native Hosts (1991/2007)

• James Hart, 7idansuu (Edenshaw) (Haida), Reconciliation Pole: Honouring a Time Before, During and After Canada’s Indian Residential Schools (2015-17)

• Kayám̓ Richard Campbell (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) and James Hart 7idansuu (Edenshaw), θəʔit (2023)

Capacity of 30, first-come-first-served
Note:  The group will meet outside in front of Belkin Art Gallery and depart promptly at 2 PM. This tour involves walking 1.5-2 km over 90 minutes, so please wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather.

Lobby, Chan Centre

In this workshop, participants will use their hands to explore mark making and create their own pictographs, guided by 2-Spirit multidisciplinary artist, Manuel Strain. Through simple gestures and shapes, students will think about how images can hold stories and personal meanings. The workshop invites participants to experiment and trust their own intuition through making their own marks.

Capacity of 60, first-come-first-served

Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC)

Join Elder Larry Grant and Vanessa Campbell for an introduction to hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the language of the Musqueam people. This interactive workshop will explore the history and current revitalization efforts of the language, the letters and characters in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, and the meaning behind key words, phrases, and place names. Participants will learn how to pronounce common greetings and expressions, including ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) while gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of seeing hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ reflected throughout Musqueam's traditional territory. Elder Larry Grant will also speak about the ongoing partnership between Musqueam and UBC to support language revitalization.

Capacity of 30, first-come-first-served

Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Linda PJ Lipsen and Derek Tan worked with artist Daphne Boyer to bring together Li Bootee mishiwayitay — The Beauty of It All, an exhibition weaving together Métis peoples' traditional handwork, digital technologies, plant materials, and porcupine quills. Derek and Linda will provide a tour of the exhibition, and talk about how the museum connects to visual and performing arts, and other ways of knowing biodiversity.

Capacity of 20, first-come-first-served

Great Performers Lounge, Chan Centre

Join Indigenous designer Naomi, founder of Another Coyote, for an interactive workshop on ancestral pictographs and petroglyphs, symbols used long before written language to record histories and teachings, still connecting communities to land and ancestors today. Naomi will share how these symbols inspire her fashion collections and lead a discussion on honouring Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural appropriation. The session ends with a hands-on pictographic art activity.

Participants:  Please feel free to bring a T-shirt, jean jacket, or jeans you would like to paint on (permanent fabric paint) to revamp into an art piece.  Otherwise, we will provide you with a bandana.

Capacity of 30, first-come-first-served

Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC)

Experience an intimate, moderated conversation with festival artists G̱a̱mksimoon, LOV, Francis Baptiste, and Kalyn Fay to explore Indigenous language reclamation and cultural revitalization through music. Gitga'at artist Jeremy Pahl's new musical project G̱a̱mksimoon features lyrics sung entirely in Sm’algya̱x, the traditional language of the Ts'msyen people in Northern BC; Vancouver-based musician and songwriter Francis Baptiste, from the Osoyoos Indian Band of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, sings in both English and his people's language of N̓syilxčn̓; nêhiyaw artist LOV from Poundmaker Cree Nation in Treaty 6, sings in both English and nêhiýawêwin; and Cherokee and Muscogee artist Kalyn Fay from Oklahoma (who will perform for the first time in Vancouver), sings in both English and Tsalagi. Each artist brings a unique perspective on connections to land, language, place and community, and how art and music can engage community to relearn and re-engage Indigenous languages through songwriting, recorded music, translation, and performance.

Capacity of 30, first-come-first-served

Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre

Elder Larry Grant's Welcome Message (2 min)

Musqueam welcome by Elder-in-Residence at UBC’s First Nations House of Learning, Larry Grant.

Musqueam Through Time (19 min)

Musqueam Through Time was produced by Gryphon Productions for the Musqueam First Nations- one of the Four Host Nations of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. It presents the cultural history of the Musqueam First Nations (Indian Band).

Writing the Land (8 min)

In this short documentary, a Musqueam elder rediscovers his Native language and traditions in the city of Vancouver, near where the Musqueam people have lived for thousands of years. The film captures the ever-changing nature of a modern city - the glass and steel towers cut against the sky, grass, trees and a sudden flash of birds in flight and the enduring power of language to shape perception and create memory.

Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre

Niwahkohmahkanis (4 min)

Music video by Zoey Roy (Nehithaw Dené/Métis) celebrating the love between children and their grandmothers.

The Wild Sheriff (12 min)

A violent storm is brewing as two powerful forces are about to collide. The orphaned Wild Sheriff seeks to bring order as he wrestles with his inner chaos.

Content warning: violence, fake gunshot

Migizi Makes A Deal with Gzhemnidoo (13 min)

A 2D animated Anishinaabe story celebrating the importance of Indigenous language and tradition.

Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre

Wolverine and Little Thunder: An Eel Hunting Adventure (9 min)

A tale of friendship and the importance of traditional knowledge, based on a story by Mi’kmaw artist Alan Syliboy.

Nenaboozhoo (15 min)

The Anishinaabe story of how the arrow got its feathers is brought to life by director Isaac Murdoch.

Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre

Special 10th anniversary screening of The Secret Path, an animated film adaptationof Gord Downie’s album Secret Path and Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel. Through music, poetry, and visual storytelling, the film shares the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died while trying to return home after fleeing Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in 1966. ​

Disclaimer: Please note that this screening addresses residential schools, intergenerational trauma, and the abuse of Indigenous children in Canada. These topics may be difficult for some audience members. We encourage you to honour your own needs as you watch and reflect on the film. 

Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre

Director Elle-Maija Tailfeathers (Blood Tribe, Blackfoot Confederacy / Sámi) tells the story of the Musqueam's 200-day vigil to halt a Vancouver condo development that unearthed ancestral remains.

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (BELKIN)

We SEE Monsters by Bracken Hanuse Corlett & Dean Hunt

We SEE Monsters is a short animation directed by Bracken Hanuse Corlett that begins with a skipper and a fisherman out at sea. One is focused on the moon, while the other remains intent on the water. Then, we abruptly leave their world and dive deep into the realms below, where monsters are the conductors of ceremony. The animation is in a panoramic format, as it was originally made to be projected on the outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery for the Burrard Art Foundation’s Facade Festival. It was animated by the team at Spotted Fawn Productions.

First Nations House of Learning (FNHL)

Featuring primarily UBC Indigenous student vendors, the Indigenous Artisan Market at the Longhouse will feature a broad range of Indigenous artistry and crafts, including beadwork, art and prints, hand-made leather goods, and other exciting unique items. Vendors can accept cash and e-transfer. All are welcome.