SFU is committed to working collaboratively and inclusively to address the 34 calls to action included in Walk This Path With Us Report. The University is pleased to inform you that since the report was handed to SFU, in accordance with Coast Salish Protocol through a witnessing ceremony on October 16, 2017, early work has been initiated in the following ARC Clusters and Calls to Action: Cluster 1: Safe and Welcoming Indigenous Spaces and Cluster 2: Curriculum Innovation and Indigenization.

The open communication fostered by SFU-ARC will continue on through implementation. News and quarterly updates on how SFU is advancing reconciliation across its three campuses will be shared here. The first quarterly report will be available in April 2018. 

SFU-ARC’s final report outlines 34 calls to action, organized into four clusters, including: creating safe and welcoming spaces for Aboriginal peoples; curriculum innovation and indigenization; student pathways and support; and administration, hiring and project implementation. The resource persons for the four clusters will soon be confirmed and shared with the SFU community. The cluster resource persons will work with the larger SFU community to support reconciliation projects. More information is forthcoming.

The following offers a brief overview as to how the ARC process is moving forward and how you can get involved.

SFU has committed a $9-million, three-four year strategic investment to support reconciliation Calls to Action at all three campuses (Burnaby, Surrey, Vancouver).

SFU-ARC has crafted a framework to help guide the process of allocating Aboriginal Strategic Initiative (ASI) funds. Strategic funding will be allocated to projects and initiatives that create significant and sustainable change at SFU and are guided by the ASI Funding Priorities and Principles outlined in the SFU-ARC's final report.

Upon receiving the SFU-ARC’s final report “Walk This Path With Us,” SFU President Andrew Petter, in consultation with SFU’s Vice-Presidents, delegated the responsibilities for overseeing the implementation of the calls to action to a working group.

The working group is comprised of:

• Peter Keller, Vice-President Academic and Provost;
• Joanne Curry, Vice-President External Relations;
• (Co-Facilitator) Ron Johnston, Pro Tem (Acting) Director, Office for Aboriginal Peoples
• (Co-Facilitator) Sobhana Jaya Madhavan, Associate Vice President, External Relations

The working group is working with the SFU Community to identify how best to make progress on each of the 34 Calls to Action.

ARC quarterly updates will be posted on the ARC websites and shared with the SFU community. In addition, information will be available through the following:

• ARC website
• SFU_ARC Twitter
• OAP
• SFU News
• SFU President's Blog
• Indigenous Student Centre

Please connect with us, with subject line “ARC Stories”, to share what you are doing to bring the calls to action to life. You may be contacted for further background to share your work for the news and events section and more widely through SFU's main university channels. You are also invited to share your stories with the ARC co-facilitators by emailing sfuarc@sfu.ca.

This is a major step forward for the University in building a renewed and respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in the SFU community. The real work begins now as the University moves forward on implementing the calls to action in the final report.