VIU's Indigenous Speakers Series, delivered in partnership with CBC Radio's Ideas program, began in 2015 to mark the release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is held every fall at the Nanaimo campus, on the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
2025 Speaker: Billy-Ray Belcourt
My Mother's house: A story of haunting and colonial history
When: Tuesday, November 18, 6:30 to 8 pm
Where: Malaspina Theatre (Building 310), VIU’s Nanaimo campus or online
Billy Ray Belcourt is a writer and academic from the Driftpile Cree Nation in northwest Alberta. His talk begins with his mother’s house – where the nuns who ran the local residential school once lived – in order to insist on new ways to make sense of the ongoing impacts of colonialism. In this talk, he will share some of his community's history, bridging the historical and the personal in addressing the question of how to tell the story of the afterlife of the twentieth century.
Biography
BILLY-RAY BELCOURT (he/him) is from the Driftpile Cree Nation in northwest Alberta. He won the Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection This Wound is a World. He has twice been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award – once in poetry for the debut and in non-fiction for his memoir, A History of My Brief Body. Both his works of fiction, A Minor Chorus and Coexistence, were national bestsellers. His latest book is THE ENTIRE OF AN ENTIRE LIFE: POEMS. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.
Past speakers
Riley Yesno
The "Reconciliation" Generation: Indigenous Youth and the Future for Indigenous People
Riley Yesno is a queer Anishinaabe scholar, writer and commentator from Eabametoong First Nation.
Wilson Williams (Sxwíxwtn)
Wilson Williams (Sxwíxwtn) spoke on "Our land, our spirit, our story: The Squamish Nation's return to Sen̓áḵw."
Connie Walker
Investigative reporter Connie Walker was the keynote speaker for VIU’s seventh annual Indigenous Speakers Series on November 22, 2021.
Jesse Wente
Jesse Wente, an Anishinaabe writer, broadcaster, speaker and arts leader, shared his perspective on Canada’s truth and reconciliation process during VIU’s sixth annual Indigenous Speakers Series on November 25, 2020.
Max FineDay
Max FineDay, Executive Director of the Canadian Roots Exchange, shared his perspective on what reconciliation looks like during VIU’s fifth annual Indigenous Speakers Series on Monday, November 25, 2019.
Douglas White III Kwul’a’sul’tun
Douglas White III Kwul’a’sul’tun, a lawyer and former director of VIU’s Centre for Pre-Confederation Treaties and Reconciliation, delivered the keynote address at the University’s fourth annual Indigenous Speakers Series on Monday, November 26, 2018.
Gabrielle Scrimshaw
Indigenous entrepreneur, activist, speaker, writer and academic Gabrielle Scrimshaw shared some reflections on youth and reconciliation during the University’s third annual Indigenous Speakers Series on November 20, 2017.
Dr. Tracey Lindberg
Dr. Tracey Lindberg, accomplished Cree academic and writer explored the complexities of reconciliation at VIU’s Indigenous Speakers Series on November 22, 2016.
Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo
Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo spoke on “Daring Greatly Together: Reimagining Canada” in VIU's inaugural presentation of the Indigenous Speakers Series on November 26, 2015.