Vancouver Island Faculty (VIU) has appointed Marcia Turner as Affiliate Vice-President, Indigenous Education and Engagement.
On this operate, Turner will current strategic administration to info the Faculty in defining and implementing a imaginative and prescient for the interrelated commitments and practices of Indigenization, decolonization and reconciliation all through the academy. Her work will be instrumental as VIU objectives to fulfill its dedication to the Actuality and Reconciliation Charge’s calls to movement and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Turner’s operate will search steering from Elders, Indigenous communities and knowledge keepers to extra give consideration to realizing learner desires and aspirations, program development and assist, and guaranteeing Indigenous school college students have neighborhood and firm in meeting their tutorial aims.
“I am honored and humbled to be invited to this new operate and different to advance Indigenous self-determination and decolonization at VIU,” says Turner. “I think about throughout the transformative vitality of coaching and the vitality and resilience of Indigenous of us. It is my passion to equalize Indigenous knowledge applications and amplify the voices of Indigenous of us.”
Turner explains: “As an Indigenous chief on this operate, I’ve a accountability to VIU, the Indigenous communities and our ancestors. The creation of this operate sends an indication that VIU is devoted to enhancing the experiences of Indigenous school college students, employees and communities on the Faculty. Our work ahead is difficult and might comprise uncomfortable conversations. Nonetheless change does not happen as soon as we’re cozy. I look ahead to developing on the great work VIU and Indigenous communities have constructed collectively.”
Turner is Gitxsan from the Lax Gibuu clan, Wilp Haijimsxw. Her ancestral determine is Ligigalwil, a wing chief determine she carries. Her Dawson family is from the Dzawada‘enuxw neighborhood. She brings a wealth of information and experience to VIU’s first AVP, Indigenous Education and Engagement operate, drawing from her 25 years of working with a numerous differ of organizations on the neighborhood, provincial, nationwide, and worldwide ranges. Turner’s superior administration experience comes from working with every the provincial authorities and post-secondary coaching sectors, collectively along with her operate as a result of the Aboriginal Provincial Supervisor for Success by 6 with the United Method of the Lower Mainland.
Turner’s expert experience comprises educating on the Faculty of British Columbia, North Island School (NIC), Royal Roads Faculty and the Faculty of Victoria (UVic), along with supporting program development collaboration with Indigenous college students, typical leaders and Elders for the Faculty of Victoria and North Island School. As part of these collaborations, she led the co-creation of the Diploma in Indigenous Neighborhood Enchancment and Governance at UVic and supported the creation of the Certificates of Aboriginal Administration at NIC.
Since 2014, Turner has been proprietor and CEO of Daxgedim Haanak’ Nation Setting up, a consulting enterprise in Indigenous governance, neighborhood development and engagement. Her purchasers included the Royal BC Museum, Simon Fraser Faculty, provincial and federal governments, First Nations communities and Coast Salish Employment and Teaching Society.
Turner is at current a PhD scholar in Political Science, Indigenous Politics at Faculty of Hawaii. She holds a Grasp of Arts in Administration from Royal Roads Faculty (2019) and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Minor in Indigenous Analysis from the Faculty of Victoria (2012).
When not working, Turner enjoys seaside walks and hikes alongside along with her two canine, spending time alongside along with her 4 grown sons and associates, learning ballroom dancing and spending time learning her simalgyax language and Gitxsan custom.
Marcia Turner assumed her new operate on July 18, 2022. For further data, electronic message Debra Jacklin, VIU’s Supervisor of Experience Acquisition, at [email protected].