Saturday, March 14
Gracie, Teresa, Kcatt, and Kim left Norfolk early en route to Denver. We then met Karen in Denver (Karen lives in Nebraska). United, we flew to Vancouver and arrived there in time to check-in and go to dinner.
Sunday, March 15
We had a wonderful tour of Vancouver. We visited Stanley Park and saw huge totem poles, soaring views, and very large trees. Then, we went to an art exhibition, called A-Maze-ing Laughter. After that we went to Grandville Island and had lunch and shopped. We ended the day with a walk uphill to the hotel, before having dinner and preparing for the day ahead.
Monday, March 16
We visited Columbia College which is situated on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. It is a for-profit quasi-high school/community college that currently serves 100% international students. It is a university transfer program that offers high school diplomas and associate degrees. We got to spend time visiting the building in downtown Vancouver, the student services spaces including the library, and learned about this great little college that is about to merge with another smaller for-profit. We were able to tell them about our merger with EVMS. We learned a lot from this group, but we never found their mascot, Trevor the Bear….but we did find slugs! The College was built on former wetlands, and the builder honored the slugs that used to (and still) live in the area! There are slug statues of all sizes around the property!
Tuesday, March 17
In the morning, we met with Assistant Deputy Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, Tony Loughran. Since Victoria, the capital of Vancouver, was a few hours away, we met with him on Zoom. He was very helpful in explaining how the postsecondary system works in Vancouver and went over governance, legislation, and engagement through the eyes of the Vancouver government. A few years ago, Canada’s federal legislation imposed a cap on international students. Canadian institutions had long relied on international students to bridge funding gaps, and this has affected them all. They have had massive layoffs in the postsecondary sector, and are still recovering from this, as well as high rental and property rates for housing.
Later that afternoon, we had quite the adventure navigating several road closures to get to the Punjabi Market area in time to have lunch. We were able to try poutine, a Canadian classic meal of french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. We then went to Langara College, which is equivalent to a community college focused on transfer. Langara is located on Musqueam territory and they recognize their responsibilities of upholding the name snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓and their relationship with Musqueam. We met with Yusuf Varachia, Vice President of External Relations and Community Engagement, Graeme Joseph, Executive Director of Indigenous Initiatives, and Michael Ferguson, assistant to VP Varachia. They were very forthcoming about the barriers they are encountering with enrollments, particularly for international students. They gave us a stunning hand-carved Indigenous talking stick.
After the visit, we had some free time, so Gracie and Kim went to get tattoos!
Wednesday, March 18
We had a full day at the University of British Columbia! UBC is situated within the ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people and in the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Sylix Okanagan Nation and their peoples. UBC is a world-leading center of teaching, learning, and research excellence and is ranked 2nd in Canada, and 38th (QS World University Rankings 2025 and 41st (2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings) the world.
We toured the student-run Student Centre, had a quick lunch and tour, and then went to TWO classes! The first class had a guest speaker, Dr. Jenny Phelps, Vice Provost Graduate and Postdoc Strategies and Academic Initiatives who told us about the strategic directions for graduate-level education at UBC. The second class, led by our host Dr. Amy Metcalfe, was an Organizational and Administration class.
After visiting the Student Centre, we went on a long tour only to discover we’d only seen about 1/34th of the actual campus!
Special note: RIP to Gracie’s perfume, which she got confiscated at Norfolk’s TSA. But the UBC Student Centre had a Sephora vending machine and she was able to replace it there!
Thursday, March 19
We visited two of the Simon Fraser University campuses. SFU respectfully acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Semiahmoo and Tsawwassen Peoples, on whose unceded traditional territories their three campuses reside. SFU is the #1 Canadian Comprehensive University and is ranked 12th in the world for innovation.
We first went to the Burnaby campus, which is located high in the mountains of Vancouver. We felt like we were in the clouds, and yes, our ears popped on the drive up! Our visits with the Center for Accessible Learning, the Library, and the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities helped us understand Canadian student services much better.
After arriving at the Surrey campus, which is located in downtown Vancouver (on top of a mall, interestingly), we had a quick snack and then went to class with Dr. Claudia Diaz Diaz. During the class, Dr. Diaz Diaz caught us up on what their Org/Admin class had been doing so far this semester, and Dr. Bullington presented on Comparative Higher Education. We then broke up into groups and discussed ways in which we could learn from our different systems and student support services.
Friday, March 20th
This was our longest commute yet and our first non-rainy day! We boarded the Hullo Ferry and took a 65-minute round trip visit to Vancouver Island.
We visited Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Vancouver Island University and its community acknowledges and thanks the Snuneymuxw, Quw’utsun, Tla’amin, Snaw-naw-as and Qualicum First Nation on whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live and share knowledge.
At VIU, we met with President Dennis Johnson and Vice-President of Students, Carolyn Russel, who treated us to a delicious lunch and spent over an hour telling us about VIU and how they managed to turn their budget into a positive number. We then went on a tour of the campus, and Kcatt’s friend joined us. Gracie got to play with the bunnies too! Kcatt noted that the poor tour guide was “not prepared for the kind of tour we were taking her on”, as we were “more interested in the logistics of the insitution.”
Saturday, March 21
We left very early for the airport. Getting through security and immigration (yes, we did this in Vancouver) was very easy. Before we knew it, we were all on our planes (Karen left for her connection in Denver, and we left for ours to Chicago).
We got home safely in the evening very tired, but full of memories!
A Final Thought
From Gracie: “This image depicts the Tsawalk – Unity Sculpture found on Vancouver Island University’s Nanaimo Campus. The imagery represents the interconnection and interdependence of all things.”
This is the best image that we can use to explain this trip to Canada.
As noted by Kcatt, we started seeing patterns: free toothbrushes being offered, free tax workshops, beautiful and prominent Indigenous art, and lots of statues. She wrote “We noticed how much programming was going on throughout the campuses; this was one similarity between our campus and theirs.”
We got to experience the interconnection and interdependence through the eyes of people who work and attend Canadian higher education institutions and how these are all connected to the Canadian way of life. Their history runs deep, and their reconciliation with the First Nations and acknowledgements that all peoples are connected is something every country should do.