KPU gives out Indigenous language parchments

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This winter convocation graduates of Kwantlen Polytechnic University will receive an additional diploma written in a blend of English and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, a Down River dialect of the Halkomelem language spoken by people of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Tsawwassen, Kwikwetlem, and Musqueam First Nations.

The translation and incorporation of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language into graduation certificates makes KPU one of the first post-secondary institutions in Canada to offer this to students. 

Natalie Wood-Wiens, manager of Indigenous services at KPU, started this initiative which serves as an acknowledgement of the nations whose traditional unceded territories KPU campuses reside on, while also working towards preserving Indigenous language and culture. 

The parchments were translated with the help of Fern Gabriel, a member of the Kwantlen First Nation and a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language teacher from the Langley School District.

“It’s a really important initiative in terms of taking steps towards reconciliation and decolonization and that is something that KPU is committed to,” says Zena Mitchell, associate vice-president of enrolment services and registrar at KPU. 

“It’s also a way that we can honour Indigenous languages at the university as a part of our responsibility for systemic transformation.”

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) issued 94 calls to action to both the Canadian federal government and educational institutions to repair and revitalize the First Nations people and culture. Wood-Wiens’s idea of featuring hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ falls in the TRC action 14 for language and culture. 

“Aboriginal languages are a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society, and there is an urgency to preserve them,” according to the report.

While Indigenous cultural preservation is part of the goal, the additional parchments are also meant to offer students something valuable. 

“I think it’s an opportunity for the university, even through graduation, to provide awareness and education more broadly about the Indigenous communities that we’re connected to,” Mitchell says.

“It further connects our graduates to the nations on whose land KPU resides and so providing that connection and an opportunity to broaden the conversation and discussion about it is really great for all of our students.”

KPU has implemented many services and programs surrounding Indigenous culture over the last decade, including the Indigenous Community Justice minor, the Indigenous Advisory Committee, and the Elder in Residence consultations. 

“When we’re embarking on some of these newer initiatives we want to make sure that we’re working with [Indigenous communities] … so that we can incorporate that into what the university is doing in an authentic way,” Mitchell says.  

Including hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ on a diploma is part of a continual process to include and honour First Nations language on campus. 

“We’ve incorporated it into a lot of our signage and the on-campus artwork, you’ll see it on campus building signs, at our student services counters, we’re adding it to a number of institutional documents, and so we’re finding ways to honour the language and people by weaving it into more and more of what we’re doing at the university,” Mitchell says. 

“It’s a way to honour both the people, the language, and the land and that’s a way we can do that as we send our grads off into the world.”