Lens of Empowerment

• The UFV developed an undergraduate programme, Lens of Empowerment (2011-12 and 2014-15), combining Indigenous learning with feminist arts’ pedagogies.
• Lens uniquely empowered students to tell their stories of nation and belonging through documentary film and photography.
• As well as benefitting students and their communities, the project contributed to Canadian higher education ITA policy on Indigenizing the Academy.

Influencing national education policy in Canada

• In 2015, Universities Canada recognised Indigenous student education as a core priority, encouraging universities to ‘embrace indigenization’ – and acknowledging the central role of the Arts in ‘Indigenizing the Academy’ (ITA).
• An early champion of ITA, UFV convened the conference S’iwes Toti:It Q’ep (Teaching and Learning Together) in 2012 – showcasing its inaugural Lens programme and attracting over 275 delegates.
• The second Lens programme (2014-15) focused on Reconciliation – the following year Canadian education policy picked up this theme.
• In 2015, UVF installed its first Indigenous woman Chancellor and, by 2019, had taken a significant step – incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing across the curriculum.

Lens of Empowerment
Tel i’tsel Kwe’lo (I Am From Here)
Archive of the second cohort of students’ films (2014-15)