Statements

Women’s Memorial March – February 14th 2022 Class Cancellations

Dear CIS Community Members, In 1992, the first Women’s Memorial March was held in response to the murder of a woman on Powell Street in the Downtown Eastside. CIS will be cancelling classes on Monday February 14th, 2022 in support of the 31st Annual February 14 Women’s Memorial March. Our annual class cancellation on February […]

Statement on St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School Findings

February 1st, 2022 The news of the location of 93 unmarked graves at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School near the community of Williams Lake First Nation is a reminder of the tragic history of Indigenous children in Residential schools. We at CIS recognize these revelations should not be ignored and we should all come […]

Statement on Lee Maracle’s Passing

November 24, 2021 We at CIS grieve the passing of Lee Maracle on November 11, 2021. Lee held many roles: Author, Activist, Catalyst, and beloved community member. She was born in North Vancouver and was a proud member of the Stó:lō Nation with Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Métis ties. Her written work reflected her cultural traditions in […]

Residential School Mass Burial Statement

July 20, 2021 As more unmarked graves continue to be revealed on the sites of residential and boarding schools throughout Canada and the US, more people share their stories of loss and grief. As more harassment and denial emerge in response, we honour the survivors of these schools, their families, and their communities, and especially […]

Statement on the Kamloops Indian Residential School Burials

The recent news about the 215 bodies of Indigenous children found at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School is deeply painful but, sadly, not surprising, as residential school survivors, families, community leaders, and researchers have long recognized the reality that far more Indigenous students died in these schools than has been documented. Each […]

Scholar Strike Canada Statement

September 2020 In support of Black and Indigenous scholars in Canada and the United States, the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies will be participating in this week’s Scholar Strike Canada, with the result that classes on September 9-10 are cancelled. We live in a broken colonial system founded on racism and white supremacy, which continues […]

CIS Statement on Anti-Black Violence

The Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies stands in solidarity with Black people around the world in their calls for justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Tony McDade, and all Black people who have experienced historic, systemic and ongoing police violence/brutality. We call for an end to violence towards Black people on […]

Wet’suwet’en Statement of Solidarity

The undersigned faculty and associates of the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies stand with Wet’suwet’en land defenders and hereditary chiefs in the face of unconsensual intrusions into their homelands and violent removal of community members from their territories. Indigenous nations in what is now known as the province of British Columbia have a rich history […]