First Nations

News Stories

James Cook, left, a volunteer for the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank and Sean Weins, Garden Café Chef, share stories in the Snaw-Naw-As Health Centre’s Garden of Spiritual Healing.

Garden Café Feeding Conversations about Healthy Eating Habits

November 25, 2019

VIU project at Snaw-Naw-As Health Centre helps increase food knowledge, cooking skills and promotes conversations about healthy food choices. Engaging people in conversations about how to make simple, healthy meals at home is at the heart of the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Garden Café project running at the Snaw-Naw-As Health Centre this fall. The café currently features Chef Sean Wiens,... Read more


Recognizing the Power of Place Names in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region

January 17, 2019

Long before British Captain George Henry Richards named Mount Arrowsmith in the late 1800s, the largest mountain on southern Vancouver Island had many distinctive titles given to it, depending which side the 1,819 metre peak was viewed from. In 2000, the Arrowsmith moniker was used in the designation of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR), a UNESCO recognized biosphere reserve.  The MABR... Read more


VIU Research Will Inspire Youth to Preserve Culture and Protect Salmon

January 16, 2019

Having the opportunity to go back to her community as a scholar to support the development of programs to preserve her language and culture is exciting to Vancouver Island University (VIU) Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Professor Dr. Georgina Martin.  Martin has been awarded a $50,000 dollar Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Indigenous Research Capacity and Reconciliation... Read more