Indigenous Initiatives
The University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) is committed to respectful and meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities to advance truth and reconciliation, particularly in areas that advance animal health.
Territorial Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the traditional territories of the People of the Treaty 7 Region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai First Nations), as well as the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations). The City of Calgary is also situated on the historic Métis homeland and home to Métis Nation of Alberta (Districts 5 and 6).
Indigenous Initiatives
Since its establishment in 2006, UCVM has built relationships with Indigenous communities through shared research initiatives that tackle problems important to communities. Additionally, community-based teaching and learning opportunities established with Indigenous communities have been mutually beneficial, supporting the learning of communication skills, social responsibility, and cultural humility of veterinary students and faculty staff alike, while supporting Indigenous communities with access to acceptable and accessible veterinary care. However, veterinary curricula are based on Western perspectives of animal health care, animal “ownership”, and human-animal relationships, and much work remains to be done to understand systemic and epistemic barriers to the inclusion of Indigenous students in veterinary education and to make veterinary education and veterinary services more accessible and acceptable (physically, culturally, and financially) to Indigenous Peoples.
In 2017, the University of Calgary released ii’taa’poh’to’p, the University’s Indigenous Strategy. In 2017, UCVM also released its 2017-2022 strategic plan, which included as a key priority, to expand and integrate our community through Indigenous engagement. Both strategies were “initiative[s] that arose from the desire to be active participants in the reconciliation process between Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) [people] and non-Indigenous [people in Canada].”. The UCVM sees animal health and human-animal relationships as a vehicle for reconciliation and continues to work closely with Indigenous partners and the UCalgary Office of Indigenous Engagement to achieve the long-term goals of developing an inclusive curriculum that supports Indigenous students and providing all veterinary graduates with the knowledge and practices to better serve Indigenous clients and communities.
Current Work
- Indigenous Strategy Implementation Committee (ISIC): Formalized in 2024, this committee has worked on all matters related to implementing the UCalgary ii’taa’poh’to’p Indigenous Strategy and the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action within the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine since fall 2018. It is open to participation from any UCVM faculty, staff, and students.
- Sokinaksinii Committee: This committee consists of Elders and knowledge keepers from Treaty 7, Indigenous veterinarians, pre-veterinary students, and professional students. The purpose of the Sokinaksinii (Soo-key-nock-sinn) Committee is to guide the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in its work to implement the UCalgary ii’taa’poh’to’p Indigenous strategy and respond to the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action. The committee works closely with the Indigenous Strategy Implementation Committee (ISIC) which acts as a liaison between the faculty and the Sokinaksinii Committee. The Sokinaksinii Committee advises the faculty on matters related to curriculum Indigenization, Indigenous student admission, pathways to veterinary medicine, and Indigenous student experience, outreach, research collaboration, and other aspects of Indigenous engagement at UCVM.
UCVM is in the process of a major Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) curriculum review and revision. In parallel with the on-going curriculum revision, and with curriculum grants from the UCalgary Office of Indigenous Engagement and the UCalgary Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, the UCVM Curriculum Revision team is working with 2 Indigenous consultants to decolonize and Indigenize the DVM curriculum. The new curriculum will begin to roll out in the fall semester of 2025, starting with the first year of the DVM program.
Naming Ceremony
The name Sokinaksinii (Soo-key-nock-sinn), the Blackfoot word for “healing” was gifted to UCVM by Elder Clarence Wolfleg in a Naming Ceremony on September 19, 2023. This name encompasses the work that is done with animals in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and the work that the Indigenous Strategy Implementation Committee and Sokinaksinii (Indigenous Advisory) Committee are doing to implement the UCalgary ii’taa’poh’to’p Indigenous strategy and respond to the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action.
On-Going Initiatives: Community-Based Teaching and Learning
The Northern Community Health Rotation (NCHR) is the longest running community outreach rotation at the UCVM beginning in 2009 and run annually for the last 16 years. It is a 4-week 4th year clinical rotation that provides preventive veterinary services annually to the dogs, cats and other animals (chickens, guinea pigs, rabbits, snakes…) in the 5 Dene Metis communities of the Sahtu Settlement Area in the Northwest Territories. The rotation was built from a long-term research partnership between a UCVM faculty member and the communities around wildlife health. It was initiated in response to community requests for preventive veterinary services and began with a formal assessment of needs in 2008 to understand how best to serve the communities. The needs assessment highlighted concerns about dog overpopulation, health and behaviour and barriers to veterinary services. As a result, the rotation began and was built as a partnership between UCVM, the local communities, and the territorial government. Each February, 4 final year veterinary students travel to the Sahtu Settlement Area with a core group of veterinarians and animal health technicians to travel the winter roads to deliver services to all 5 communities.
Over the years this program has had positive impacts on the health and welfare of dogs in the communities and on community concerns around safety, dog over-population, and negative dog encounters. It has also had many benefits for participating veterinary students, supporting the development of cultural humility, learning to practice in a resource limited setting, and practicing communicating with a diversity of clients. With the goals of community engagement and partnership, improving animal health, and promoting and engaging youth in animal care, the veterinary students develop veterinary knowledge, skills and attitudes to support the role of animals within the context of these remote northern communities. By considering the health of animals, community members, and the environment together (One Health), the NCHR focuses on cultural awareness and humility and emphasises client respect and autonomy while maintaining the goals of promoting public health and animal welfare.
Building off the experiences and outcomes of the Northern Community Health Rotation, and to provide opportunities for more veterinary students to build relationships with Indigenous partners, we initiated the Stoney Nakoda Animal Health Program in partnership with the Stoney Nakoda First Nation outside Calgary. The relationship with the community began in 2017 with the establishment of an advisory council of Elders and knowledge keepers who guided UCVM on how the community envisioned partnering around animal health. The four key priorities that were identified by the advisory council included: 1) Increasing Indigenous youth exposure and access to careers in the health sciences like veterinary medicine; 2) Ensuring Nakoda language and the importance of Indigenous knowledge are fostered in any activities introduced by UCVM; 3) Facilitating shared learning opportunities between the Stoney Nakoda community and UCVM; and 4) Increasing the access of the community to appropriate veterinary services. With this guidance in mind, starting in the fall of 2018 and continuing once to twice a year since, UCVM has delivered interactive, hands-on outreach sessions about veterinary medicine and health sciences to Nakoda youth from kindergarten through Grade 12, with the involvement of community Elders and knowledge keepers. These sessions have been very well received over the years by those involved in the community, as well as at UCVM, but remained somewhat ad hoc and limited in the number of people from UCVM that could be involved and also did not address all of the priorities initially identified by the advisory council. As such, in the fall of 2020, a group from UCVM and community partners had the opportunity to apply for, and were successful in receiving, a one-time grant from PetSmart Charities of Canada to develop and implement a broader animal health program with the community. Implementation of the Stoney Nakoda Animal Health Program began in 2022 and the program spans the veterinary student curriculum, providing multiple opportunities for relationship building and activities around animal health.
In first year, veterinary students view the documentary titled “Ahomapénî; Relations and Rez Dogs”, which was created by the Nakoda AV Club and explores community perspectives on dogs and how dogs are viewed and interacted with by outsiders. The screening is followed by guided discussions with AV Club members and community Elders. The second-year veterinary students deliver the interactive, hands-on outreach sessions about veterinary medicine and health sciences to Nakoda youth in the schools. The sessions have been modified so that they are now opportunities for a 2-way exchange of knowledge, with UCVM students sharing their knowledge about veterinary medicine and animal health and youth, Elders and teachers from the community sharing their knowledge about traditional relationships with animals and animal health. Students from the fourth-year class have the opportunity to participate in a 2-week clinical rotation that delivers preventive veterinary services, including sterilization surgeries, health exams, vaccinations and deworming services, as well as other minor procedures, at pop-up clinic events held twice a year in the community. In the future, there will be opportunities for third-year students to participate in the delivery of wellness appointments during the clinic events, providing health exams and vaccines to dogs and cats in the community and discuss animal health and care with the animals’ guardians.
The program so far has received hugely positive feedback from participants at UCVM and from community members and will continue once PetSmart Charities of Canada funding for this program ends in August of 2024 with support from other sponsors and partners to ensure that this new and impactful program can continue to benefit our community partners, their animals and our veterinary students.
Since 2019, this community-based rotation for 2 fourth year students has worked with both the Tsuut’ina and Siksika First Nations to provide preventive care for horses.