At the October 26, 2015 meeting of the UVSS Board of Directors, the Undergraduates of Political Science (UPS) requested $6000 for their conference on Sovereignty: Land, Borders and Bodies, through Course Union Council. The Board tabled this motion as concerns were raised about the content of the conference and the lack of proper consultation with Indigenous communities. We invited the UPS to come and present to us on the conference at our next board meeting on November 2, 2015. When our concerns were not adequately addressed in the presentation, the Board voted unanimously not to support the conference at that time. Specifically, the Board was concerned that consultation with NSU or Esquimalt Nation had not occurred, and therefore could not support a conference about sovereignty where organizers did not appropriately include communities on whose unceded land we are situated.
As the Board of Directors of the UVic Students’ Society, we try to actively navigate our own privileges by making space for and listening to the voices of those who are traditionally silenced.
However, this isn’t to say that we are perfect. Unlearning behaviours and calling out oppression is a messy and complicated task – but rather than pushing back on each other when being called out, we have to come together as communities to try to face discomfort and learn from it.
The UVSS recognizes the value in bringing a conversation on sovereignty to Victoria, but remains committed to ensuring that this conversation is held with the consent of all stakeholders. Consultation with Indigenous folks on this topic should not have been an afterthought. We are talking about the use of student money and when students tell us that money will be spent in a way that causes harm – we have to hold each other accountable to preventing harm.
The UVSS Board of Directors places ourselves as complicit within a system that caused harm to students and we recognize that colonialism is an ongoing process within which we are embedded. Breaking down colonial structures is a complicated task, but without forming and tending to valuable relationships within our communities, we simply cannot tackle those structures in a good way. Preventing harm in the future means proactively building linkages between campus communities with many different experiences.
Listening to the voices of those traditionally silenced and marginalized is not coddling. It is a process by which communities can come together to produce the culture shift needed to create a more inclusive society. Some folks may feel put out by this process, but perhaps this serves as an important reminder: change isn’t comfortable – if it was it would be called complacency.
For these reasons, the UVSS Board of Directors stands by our recent decision to overturn $6,000 in funding to the Undergraduates of Political Science conference on Sovereignty: Land, Borders and Bodies. The UVSS will not be able to support this conference until we are confident that the Undergraduates of Political Science have engaged in meaningful consultation with NSU and other local indigenous groups to ensure this event is not harmful to our members and our community.
In community,
The UVSS Board of Directors.