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Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations
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  • UBC-Aboriginal Timeline
    • Credits
  • About us
    • Acknowledgements
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  • Educator Resources
    • User Guide for Educators
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  • Developer’s Stories
    • Story 1 – It’s “their” history, isn’t it?
    • Story 2 – How many Aboriginal students are there at UBC?
    • Story 3 – Don’t Aboriginal peoples want equality? What is it that they want then?
  • TLEF update, and introducing Mathew Andreatta, one of our Time and Place student assistants

    We are excited to introduce Mathew Andreatta, who has joined the TLEF project team this fall to work on developing a new Educator's Guide. Read More

  • Time and Place at UBC receives TLEF project grant!

    We are pleased to announce that Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations has received a TLEF (Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund) project grant. The grant will enable the project to enter an exciting and meaningful phase of development Read More

  • How to navigate the timeline

    Check the Technical Guide to learn how to use different features of the timeline to navigate the space smoothly. Read More

  • A timeline user guide for educators

    The user guide helps educators in different teaching settings design, facilitate, and support a learning process using the timeline. Read More

Explore the timeline

What is the timeline?

The central focus of this website - Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations - is a UBC-Aboriginal Timeline. The timeline documents UBC’s key historical moments with Aboriginal peoples, while locating these moments in broader contexts at institutional, provincial, and national levels (i.e., UBC, BC, and Canada). Although the special focus of the timeline is on Aboriginal peoples, it is not only about them, nor is it only about the past. Rather, the timeline intends to speak to us all – Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples alike at UBC – to build a shared understanding of the specificities and complexity of the time and place that we share today.

Specifically, the timeline aims to:
1) develop our awareness of the history of this place at UBC, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people; and
2) offer a historical lens through which we reflect on our relations at UBC by allowing us to embed ourselves in the multiple historical layers of this place.

Before you begin

Please bear in mind about the following before you begin exploring the timeline as a teaching and learning resource:

What the timeline is not and its limitations

The timeline is not a static and exhaustive list of historical events in Canada. It continues to be a work in progress. Much like the individual who developed it holds a particular set of knowledge and interests (See Developer’s Stories), the timeline highlights certain moments in history. You are therefore encouraged to actively and critically engage with the timeline.

First of all, the specific history of the land where UBC stands – the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Musqueam territory – is lacking in the timeline. The timeline currently includes some recent Musqueam-related events, most of which are based on publicly available information that documents UBC’s relationship with the Musqueam community. However, representations of the Musqueam Nation are still insufficient in the timeline. A long and ongoing history of the Musqueam people that dates far back prior to the “arrival” of UBC is a major missing piece in the timeline. (Adding Musqueam history to the timeline is currently under development as a 2016-17 TLEF project.)

Similarly, the timeline currently does not include history before the establishment of the first residential school in Canada in 1620. However, this does not mean that it is the beginning of history, and we need to be cognizant of the existence of rich Indigenous histories long prior to that.

In addition, the linear presentation of history, as presented in the timeline, has a limitation. It does not fully address the multifaceted nature of each historical event, such as multiple forces and contexts that gave rise to the event, people’s different views of the event, and the event’s varying effects on different segments of society.

Lastly, it is important to note the scope of this website.  The purpose of the website is not to present academic analyses and debates of historical events. We hope to gradually expand the website with stories that highlight the multifaceted nature of history by drawing on scholarly debates on some key historical events. Nonetheless, the primary purpose of the website remains to offer a starting point for learning and discussions about multi-layered histories at UBC.

Terminology

How we identify ourselves and others and the terminology we use to do so can be a complicated process. Especially, the complexity of Aboriginal peoples’ identities – whether these identities are created by self or imposed by the government – need to be carefully reflected upon and understood. To learn more about this, please refer to the Indigenous Foundations website.

Throughout the website, you will see a variety terms used to describe Indigenous peoples, such as Native American, Aboriginal, First Nations, etc. While we work on making terminology consistent, the timeline currently reflects the terminology used in the original literature source from which the description of each event is drawn.


The timeline is a living document. Please contact us with questions, suggestions, and comments for further development.

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Website ctlt.ubc.ca
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