Our Goals

Coast Salish history runs deep through the land on which Royal Roads University and Hatley Castle are situated. The story often told of Royal Roads is of a history that began with the Dunsmuir family who built Hatley Castle. However, history of the land goes back even further, to when it was a gathering place for the Coast Salish people, the traditional holders of the land. We are grateful to the Coast Salish people for sharing their territory, traditions and teachings that enhance Royal Roads as a place of learning.

Our mission is to honour this traditional gathering place of learning by strengthening our relations with neighbouring First Nations. Our vision is to partner with First Nations and Indigenous communities throughout the world, create opportunities to connect with each other and connect our current students to our Aboriginal alumni as a way to strengthen our community of learning.

Our Goal is to build stronger relationships with our neighbouring Coast Salish communities and to be a welcoming environment for ceremony, event planning and hosting, and for assisting youth and other community members to find opportunities to engage in learning.

Our Goal is also to create a ‘Gathering Place’ that brings First Nations leaders and community members together with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students, faculty and friends for sharing and learning about culture.

Supporting our Aboriginal Students

Royal Roads University’s involvement with Aboriginal students began in July 1996 when Royal Roads University was established and the first cohort was launched. Michelle Corfield, from the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, was one of the first Aboriginal students to attend the program and, like many, was inspired by the learning to the extent that she went on to complete her doctorate. Like Michelle, hundreds of other Aboriginal students are now alumni of Royal Roads’ graduate and undergraduate programs. Our ongoing relationship with Aboriginal students and their communities is an important pillar in extending our educational reach beyond the classroom experience.

Our Goal is to provide learning support and assistance for Aboriginal students interested in our undergraduate and graduate programs or our non-credit training courses offered through the Centre for Applied Leadership and Management, Centre for Livelihoods and Ecology, and Continuing Studies. The key to our programs is relevant content that includes indigenous knowledge, story telling, conflict management, health, environment, education, business and other related issues of interest to First Nations and Indigenous communities worldwide.

Our Goal is also to find ways to connect our current Aboriginal students with our Aboriginal alumni by sharing stories, providing support, and creating new opportunities for research and outreach through our ‘Virtual Gathering Place’ - our online world which connects Aboriginal students with prospective students and alumni wherever they may be in the world.

Optimizing Research

Royal Roads students have added insights they have gained from their major research/thesis projects to the body of knowledge around challenges and opportunities facing First Nations and Indigenous communities. Research topics range from leadership to conflict, from environmental sustainability to communications, education and business.

Our Goal is to make available, through our ‘Virtual Gathering Place’, research project topics that links Aboriginal students entering our programs with Aboriginal and Indigenous-related research projects, both on-going and those conducted in the past.

Building Community Partnerships

In 2006, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) was signed between Yekooche First Nation and Royal Roads, which led to the establishment of a Learning Centre to enable participants, by learning to use technology, to either complete their high school education, develop pre-requisites for post secondary training, or prepare for post secondary education. The Learning Centre has received international recognition for its ‘de-institutionalized’ approach to learning.

More recently, an MOU was signed with Tsawout First Nation to establish a ‘Community Engagement in Learning’ project. This project, with the support of Camosun College’s trades program and the Saanich School District, is designed to offer credit for courses taken through the project to assist those wishing to complete a Dogwood diploma.

Other MOUs are with the First Nations Technology Council, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, Yukon College, to name a few.

Our Goal is to partner with First Nations communities and their organizations as a way to support their learning interests and development goals.

Designing Customized Training

Royal Roads believes that for education to be ‘meaningful’ there needs to be a progression of educational opportunities and support for Aboriginal members and their communities.  These include: communities preparing for self-government and land claims treaty; those who have an interest in re-engaging youth who have been marginalized through prior educational experiences; and those who wish to find ways to enhance community-based learning, whether it is about capturing the community’s past using creative technologies, exploring the present through economic development, or managing its resources for its future.

Our Goal is to be creative, but practical, in the training we offer.

Some training possibilities include:

• Furthering the work of the Centre for Livelihoods and Ecology (CLE), which has assisted, through research and contract training, numerous Aboriginal participants in their programs. Their use of non-timber resources is an economic generator for communities looking to connect their non-timber resources to potential markets.
• Expanding what we offer through the Centre for Applied Leadership and Training. This includes “Digital Storytelling using Creative Technologies”, “Indigenous Speakers Series of Gifted Writers, Artists and Scholars”, and Youth Engagement and Leadership Training”, offered through the Indigenous Development program.
• Offering more Aboriginal cultural-related courses and certificate programs through Continuing Studies. These include language and knowledge, cultural understanding, and practice and skill based courses, such as “Conflict Resolution: Building on Cultures of Peace and Harmony” offered in conjunction with the British Columbia Treaty Commission.

Some examples include:

• Digital Story Telling using Creative Technologies for capturing traditional knowledge and cultural practices or creating new stories
• Youth Engagement and Leadership Training for advancing learning opportunities
• Governance Capacity Training for Chief and Council
• Conflict Resolution: Building on Cultures of Peace and Harmony
• Economic Development, Environmental Stewardship, Land Use and Traditional Use Studies
• Leadership and Management Workshops for Community Members
• Aboriginal Alumni engagement opportunities
• Tse Tsa Watle Aboriginal Engagement Series
• Indigenous Speakers Series of Gifted Writers, Artists and Scholars