UBC to open first residential school history centre in Western Canada
Posted September 12, 2016 2:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Creating understanding and reconciliation. That’s the goal of the Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre (IRSC) now being built at UBC’s main Point Grey campus.
The $5.5 million facility, an outgrowth of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, will house school records and archival material as well as serve as a hub for research and education.
“Most of this information has not been available,” explains Dr. Linc Kesler, director of the First Nations House of Learning.
“So, we think it’s very important to do this here and to make sure that that information is available, certainly to all UBC students, but more generally to other students from the K through 12 system and other universities who come here.”
Kesler feels the success of the facility is critical.
“As an educational institution, if we fail to provide meaningful information that helps society enter more functional dialogues and come to better decisions, we’re really failing in our mission,” he says.
Construction should be complete in time for the 2017-18 academic year.
