Past Initiatives: Grants Given 2019-2020
Little Big House Build
"We are building a Little Big House to support the Matriarch Camp and Ma’amtagila Land Rematriation Project! The build is slated to take place from September 23 to October 2, 2019, on the UVic campus in Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories. Our organizing team is made up by Indigenous and Settler students and community members who have come together to make the build happen. The Facebook page is a hub for updates and support opportunities. The construction of the Little Big House is part of an assertion of Indigenous sovereignty spear-headed by Ma’amtagila matriarch Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas, in coordination with broader Kwakwaka'wakw hereditary leadership. The Ma’amtagila are a nation within the Kwakwaka'wakw, or the people who speak Kwak̓wala. Tsastilqualus and other members of the Matriarch Camp intend to return home to their lands and waters near Hiladi, “the place to make things right,” to affirm their Indigenous title and rights and uphold hereditary systems of governance. The portable Little Big House will enable Tsastilqualus, her son Dakota, their kin, and other Indigenous people to spend time on the land and water. In the process, the Little Big House will help to reinvigorate land-based cultural and spiritual practices, strengthen matriarchal decision-making practices that are integral to Kwakwaka'wakw governance, increase access to traditional foods and medicines, and (re)produce and share knowledge with younger generations. However, Ma’amtagila and Kwakwaka'wakw territories and people are also facing the impacts of historical and ongoing colonial violence. The Little Big House will facilitate anti-colonial resistance efforts by serving as a base of operations for the Wild Salmon Matriarch Camp, who witness and document industrial activity and initiate campaigns to oppose unsustainable logging and fish farming practices that threaten the health and well-being of all life on Ma’amtagila territory. The Little Big House will support Ma’amtagila people as they uphold their responsibilities and make things right."
Tiny House Warriors
"The Tiny House Warriors: Our Land is Home is a part of a mission to stop the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline from crossing unceded Secwepemc Territory. Ten tiny houses will be built and placed strategically along the 518 km TransMountain pipeline route to assert Secwepemc Law and jurisdiction and block access to this pipeline. This is one of the most serious threats to our Territories. We have never provided and will never provide our collective free, prior and informed consent - the minimal international standard - to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Project. Investors take note, the Kinder Morgan project and any other corporate colonial project that seeks to go through and destroy our 800,000 square km of unceded territory will be refused passage through our territory. We stand resolutely together against any and all threats to our lands, the wildlife and the waterways. We, the Secwepemc, have never ceded, surrendered, or given up our sovereign title and rights over the land, waters and resources within Secwepemcul’ecw. We have lived on our land since time immemorial and have never been conquered by war. We collectively hold title and governance regarding Secwepemcul’ecw and the collective consent of the Secwepemc is required for any access to our lands, waters and resources. We are going big, by going small, and our first tiny house build date is set for the September 5-8th at Neskonlith (near Kamloops). By building these Tiny Houses, we are asserting our collective Secwepemc responsibility and jurisdiction to our lands and waters. Each tiny house will provide housing to Secwepemc families facing a housing crisis due to deliberate colonial impoverishment. Each home will eventually be installed with off-the-grid solar power. The Tiny House Warrior movement will be the start of re-establishing village sites and asserting our authority over our unceded Territories. We are committed to upholding our collective and spiritual responsibility and jurisdiction to look after the land, the language and the culture of our people. The Tiny House Warriors are building something beautiful that models hope, possibility and solutions to the world. We invite anyone and everyone to join us."
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'Wasteland: A Climate Anxiety Haunted House' Project
"We are turning a pre-demolition house into an experimental pop-up art gallery with the theme of climate anxiety. Students from the University of Victoria Teacher Education Program are working with students from Esquimalt High and Victoria High Climate on art installations for the project. Professional artists from the community are also making installations, and community members are welcome to hold events in the space for the month of November. The purpose of Waste Land: Climate Anxiety Haunted House is to raise awareness about the climate crisis in an accessible, creative, and artistic way. Participating artists are encouraged to use reclaimed materials for the work, and works should revolve around the theme of climate change/anxiety."
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The Students' Open Forum Against Racism ('SOFAR')
"SOFAR is a non-hierarchical organization that seeks to combat institutional racism, by dismantling systems of patriarchy, heteronormativity, and ableism. SOFAR directly addresses marginalization as we work to take action against injustice and oppression."
The UVSP gave a grant to SOFAR to fund decolonial workshop training events on campus.
The UVSP gave a grant to SOFAR to fund decolonial workshop training events on campus.
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Gender Empowerment Centre ('GEM')
GEM's mission is to create social change through political action, education, and support of University of Victoria self-identified women, non-binary, and gender nonconforming persons.
The UVSP gave a grant to GEM to fund FREE menstrual cups for students of the University of Victoria. This grant supports sustainable menstrual care, as well as accessibility and equal opportunity for students on campus.
The UVSP gave a grant to GEM to fund FREE menstrual cups for students of the University of Victoria. This grant supports sustainable menstrual care, as well as accessibility and equal opportunity for students on campus.
We acknowledge with respect the Lekwungen peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria Sustainability Project works on, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
