UNBC is on LheitliT’eneTerritory & has Regional Campuses on the Territory of many Tribal Councils, Bands & First Nations

UNBC was founded with First Nations Studies as part of its Mandate

UNBC Offers a Strong BA in FNST

With course offerings in:

•Religion & Spirituality

•First Nations Language & Culture

Cree, Carrier/Dakelthin Prince George;
Tsimshian, Nisga’a, Haisla, Gitxsan& Witsuwit’en in the regions

•ContemporaryIssues

Land Claims, Health & Healing, The State, Gender & Legal Issues

•Research Methods (including Oral History)

•First Nations Art& Material Culture

Dress & Adornment, Orality, & Humour, BC First Nations Art

•Traditional Environmental Studies

Land & Resource Use & Environmental Philosophy

UNBC’sFirst Nations Studies attracts great students

A FNST BA Offers Many Career Opportunities in:

•Education

•Business

•Public Administration

•Law

•Communications

•Cultural property management

•Social Services

•Health Care Delivery & Administration

•& many other fields

•Graduate Degrees

Northern Advancement Program

•General First Nations Studies Certificate

•First Nations Language Certificate & Diploma

•Aboriginal Community Resource Planning Certificate

•First Nations Public Administration Certificate

•Aboriginal Health Science Certificate & Diploma

•Métis Studies Certificate

•Nisga’aStudies Certificate

•Traditional Environmental Knowledge Certificate

Jolain Foster, Recruitment & Advising

Paul Michel, Director First Nations Centre

•General First Nations Studies Certificate

•First Nations Language Certificate & Diploma

•Aboriginal Community Resource Planning Certificate

•First Nations Public Administration Certificate

•Aboriginal Health Science Certificate & Diploma

•Métis Studies Certificate

•Nisga’aStudies Certificate

•Traditional Environmental Knowledge Certificate

Besides the BA in FNST

• UNBC has a Joint Major in FNST and Women’s Studies

• You can do a double major in First Nations Studies & another “teachable”subject like History, Geography, or Political Science

• Or you can do a Minor in First Nations Studies

•The First Nations Center offers:

•Elders Room –a place to meet and socialize (Potlucks and Cultural Events)

•Peer Support Group

•Counsellors

•Computer Access Room

•Student Support/ Tutoring

•Academic Advising

• The MA in FNST prepares students for teaching, administrative and PhD programs
• FNST MA students may write a thesis or do a project

Mills has published three books
on land claims and reincarnation:
•Eagle Down Is Our Law: Witsuwit’enLaw, Feasts and Land Claims

•Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief Among North American Indians & Inuit

•‘Hang Onto These Words’Johnny David’s DelgamuukwTestimony

DeneChipewyan, Karyn is finishing her PhD at Simon Fraser University and teaches First Nations Environmental Knowledge, Traditional Use Studies & First Nations Methodology courses

Director of the First Nations Centre

Teaches courses in
•Health and Healing

•First Nations Writers

•Many other subjects

• In 2006 plans are underway to create an Interdisciplinary PhD at UNBC
• with FNST one of the disciplines for the PhD

MA in First Nations Studies30 Credit Hours = 5 Courses + Thesis

• FNST 600-3 Foundations of FNST

• FNST 602-3 The Practice of Research

• FNST 790-3 Internship

• One elective from student’s chosen theme

• One MA elective outside FNST

• FNST 799-15 Thesis

Or

FNST 797-12 Project + 1 course from First Nations Issues or Northern Nations Stream

Examples of MA Theses in FNST

• KiwakoOkuma Education as a Decolonizing Tool : The Nisga’aExperience 1996

• Michael BlackstockGytimGan: Faces in the Forest 1996

• Kim Ross Aboriginal Midwifery & Traditional Birthing 1998

• TanjaHoffman First Nations & Archaeologists’ Perspectives on Human Burial Remains 1999

• Denise McDonald The Charter of Rights & Sto:loNation Culture: Altering a Holistic Worldview 1999

• Beryl AmaronTowards an Appreciation of Nlekepmx Fiber Technology 2000

More Examples of MA Theses

• Travis Holyk The GitxsanNation’s Struggle for Jurisdiction Over their Traditional Territories 2002

• Yuka IzuNisga’aSchool Children’s Response to Inuit Prints 2002

•Catherine Siermacheski First Nations Women Carvers:Celebrating Creation & Creativity 2004

• Laurel Crocker Strength & Resiliency in the Narratives of Margaret Gagnon 2005

• Maki Umeda Spirituality in Helping Others: Learning from First Nations Elders & Counsellors’Alcohol Related Experience 2005

• Dawn Dunstan First Nations Hip-Hop: Coyote Re- Creates Story & Song 2005

Northwest Region FNST MA

• Begun in 2001, the cohort were part-time students, typically working full time for their First Nations communities

• FNST 600-3 Foundations of FNST

• FNST 602-3 Practice of Research

• FNST 603-3 Northern Nations

• FNST 604-3 Northern Nations II

• FNST 605-3 The State of the Discipline

• FNST 799-15 Thesis

OR

FNST 797-12 Project + one more FNST course

Examples of Theses from NW Cohort

• Erica Ball Anlagasimdeex: The History of a GitxsanSettlement 2004

• Judith Moran GitSkee’eenNiidiit: People of the SkeenaRiver 2004

For more information visit their website: http://www.unbc.ca