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Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 10 a.m.

Faculties & programs

This convocation ceremony includes undergraduate and graduate students from:

  • Business
  • Fine Arts
  • Humanities
  • Graduate Studies

Order of proceedings

  • Pre-ceremony music
    • Performer: Aleksei Pankratov, School of Music
  • Processional
    • Drummers: Christine Sam, Songhees First Nation and Sandy Morris Jr., Tsartlip First Nation
  • Welcome
    • Dr. Skip Dick, Songhees Elder
  • Opening remarks
    • Chancellor Marion Buller
  • Conferring of Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt)
    • Jeanette Armstrong
  • Orator
    • Dr. John Archibald, Faculty of Humanities
  • Conferring of degrees
    • Performer: Matthew Stott, School of Music
  • Congratulations from the Alumni Association
    • Ada Saab
  • Closing remarks
    • Chancellor Marion Buller
  • O Canada
    • Performer: Olivia Charette, School of Music

Honorary degree recipient

Jeannette Armstrong, Honorary Doctorate of Letters

Jeannette Armstrong, Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt)

Jeannette Armstrong is an associate professor in Indigenous Studies and the coordinator of Interior Salishan Studies Centre at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Born on the Penticton Indian Reserve in the Okanagan, Armstrong is a multi-faceted writer, visual artist, researcher, educator, leader and activist.

She received a Diploma in Fine Arts from Okanagan College, then earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the 番茄社区 in 1978. In 2009, she received her doctorate in Indigenous Environmental Ethics from the University of Greifswald in Germany.

Armstrong is one of the founders of the En'owkin Centre, originally named the Okanagan Indian Curriculum Project, to provide students with strong cultural and academic foundations for success. The Centre includes Theytus Publications, the first Indigenous-owned publishing house in Canada.

The En'owkin International School of Writing, founded by Armstrong in a partnership with UVic Faculty of Fine Arts, has served Indigenous artists and writers for over 40 years. Armstrong was a co-founder of En'owkin's Certificate in Aboriginal Language Revitalization which operates in partnership with UVic's Department of Linguistics serving Indigenous communities throughout Canada.

As an influential advocate for Indigenous peoples’ rights, Armstrong has been a force of change and widescale community impact through her artistic, research and educational vision.