Start Here
APTN's First Contact (documentary-series)
Tanya Talaga's Massey Lectures
All My Relations
Cajete, G. A. (2005). American Indian epistemologies. New Directions for Student Services, 109: 69-78.
All My Relations: Interconnectedness
Canadian Government's Approach to Land Claim Agreements
Turn the Tables: Reject the Interim Land Claims Policy
Have We Just Witnessed the End of the Modern Treaty Process?
Lawrence, B. (2012). Aboriginal Title and Comprehensive Claims Process (pp.54-82). In Fractured Homeland: Federal Recognition and Algonquin Identity in Ontario. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Samson, C. (2016). Canada's strategy of dispossession: Aboriginal land and rights cessions in comprehensive land claims. Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 31(1), 87. doi:10.1017/cls.2016.2
Horizon Treaty Education (Video)
Usher, P. J. (1992). Reclaiming the land: Aboriginal Title, Treaty Rights and Land Claims in Canada. Applied Geography, 12(2), 109-132.
Usher, P. J. (2003). Environment, race and nation reconsidered: reflections on Aboriginal land claims in Canada. The Canadian Geographer, 47(4), 365-382.
Government of Canada Website: Land Claims
Canada’s 1982 Constitution on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights
Constitution Act, 1982 Section 35: Recognition and Affirmation of Aboriginal Rights
Turpel, M. E. Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Contradictions and challenges. Canadian Woman Studies, 10(2&3), 149-157.
McNeil, K. (1982). The Constitutional Rights of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. Supreme Court Law Review, 4(255), 255-265.
Aboriginal treaties in Canada are constitutionally recognized agreements between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples. Most of these agreements describe exchanges where Aboriginal groups agree to share some of their interests in their ancestral lands in return for various payments and promises.
Changes in Legal Definitions of Status for Particular Indigenous Groups and Their Impact
A Year After Landmark Ruling, Métis, Non-Status Indians Chart Way Forward
Rulings Impact Métis and Non-Status Indians
Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nations Rally in Ottawa as Thousands Risk Losing Band Status
Updated Founding Members List for the Qalipu First Nation Adopted Through Order in Council
Indian Status and Band Membership Issues
Delgamuukw vs the Queen and Indigenous Legal and Oral Traditions
Borrows, J. (2011). Listening for change: The courts and oral tradition. Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 39(1), 1-38.
Borrows, J. (2005). Indigenous Legal Traditions in Canada. Washington University Journal of Law & Policy.
Delgamuukw v British Columbia, [1997] 3 SCR 1010, 1997 CarswellBC 2358
Napolean, V. (2005). Delgamuukw: A legal straightjacket for oral histories? Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 20(2), 123-155.
Aboriginal Title: The Supreme Court of Canada Decision in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia
“Delgamuukw continues to represent a momentous affirmation of the existence and constitutionally protected status of Aboriginal title in Canada. It seems important, however, to underscore the fact that the Court did not rule on the merits of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Aboriginal title claim. The effects of its decision are therefore more directive than conclusive. Delgamuukw provided government, Aboriginal claimants, and the lower courts with comprehensive new guidelines for the future settlement or litigation of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en and other comprehensive land claims.”
First Nations and Inuit Post-Secondary Funding
Indigenous Services Canada: Post-Secondary Student Support Program
First Nations Post-Secondary Education: Fact Sheet
Myths and Facts about Aboriginal Peoples: Education
Carr-Stewart, S. (2011). Post secondary education as a Treaty Right within the context of Treaty 6. First Nations Perspectives, 4(1): 84-109.
First Nations Health and Child Welfare Authorities
How First Nations are Fighting Back Against the Foster Care
Why Indigenous Children are Overrepresented in Canada's Foster Care System
‘Terrible consequences:’ Jane Philpott on Indigenous Children in Foster Care
AFN Chief Calls on First Nations to Create Their Own Child-Welfare Legislation
BC’s First Nations Health Authority.
First Nations, Inuit, and the Vote
Aboriginal People and the Franchise
The Federal and Provincial Franchise
“First Nations right to vote granted 50 years ago”
Canada's Relationship with Inuit
First Nations Living Off Reserve
Statistics Canada on Aboriginal Peoples in Canada
Recognizing Rights: Strengthening Off Reserve First Nations Communities
Indigenous in the City movie (8th Fire)
Peters, E., Anderson, C. (Eds.) (2013). Indigenous in the city: Contemporary identities and cultural innovation. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.
Kermoal, N. (2013). Connecting urban and Aboriginal histories: Towards an urban Aboriginal history in Québec. Revue Internationale sur l'Autochtonie, 5: 1-12.
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Authors
Thomas King. See also: Thomas King
Daniel David Moses. See also: Daniel David Moses
Tomson Highway. See also: Tomson Highway
Maria Campbell. See also: Maria Campbell
Michael Kusugak. See also: Michael Kusugak
Sheila Watt-Cloutier. See also: Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Check out these filmmakers on CBC's 8th Fire
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Musicians
Mob Bounce. Also see: Mob Bounce
A Tribe Called Red. See also: It’s Getting Harder to Ignore Canada’s Genocide
Indigenous CBC Music – Reclaimed
Governments Limiting Land Claims From 1927 to 1951: First Nations Hiring Lawyers Was Illegal
Fact Sheet - Treaty Negotiations
The Indian Act: A Historical Overview
"Amendments to the [Indian] Act in 1927 made it illegal for First Nations peoples and communities to hire lawyers or bring about land claims against the government without the government’s consent."
Indigenous Conceptions of Health and Wellness
Aboriginal Cultural Safety: Health and Healing [Video]
When Indigenous Healing Practices Meet Modern Medicine [Audio podcast]
Graveline, F. J. (1998). Circle works: Transforming Eurocentric consciousness. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Howell, T., Auger, M., Gomes, T., Brown, F.L., Leon, A.Y. (2016). Sharing our wisdom: A holistic Aboriginal health initiative. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 11(1): 111-132.
Indigenous Languages and Language Revitalization
Census in Brief: The Aboriginal Languages of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit
Why Indigenous Languages Should Be Taught Alongside French and English
Report on the Status of B.C. First Nations Languages, Third Edition, 2018
McCarty, T. L., Romero, M. E., Zepeda, O. (2006). Reclaiming the gift: Indigenous youth counter-narratives on Native Language loss and revitalization. The American Indian Quarterly, 30(1&2), 28-48.
Indigenous Languages in Canada
Indigenous Languages, Friendship Centre Funding Welcomed in B.C. Spending Plan
First Peoples' Cultural Council Language Revitalization Strategies
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Population in Canada
Statistics Canada Population Projections by Aboriginal Identity in Canada, 2006 to 2031
Aboriginal Statistics at a Glace
Statistics Canada National Aboriginal Populations
Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Key Results from the 2016 Census
Indigenous Population Growing Rapidly, Languages Surging: Census
The Burden of Continuity and Proof for Indigenous Peoples' Rights And Its Effects on Canadian Society
Borrows, J. (2016). Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism. London; Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
Borrows, J. (2012). (Ab)Originalism and Canada’s Constitution. The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference58.
McCreary, T. (2014). The burden of sovereignty: Court configurations of Indigenous and state authority in Aboriginal title litigation in Canada. North American Dialogue, 17(2), 64-78. doi:10.1111/nad.12016
Aboriginal Title in British Columbia and the Burden of Proof
Proving a Constitutional Right to the Land for Aboriginal Peoples of Canada
Borrows, J. (2011). Wampum at Niagara: The Royal Proclamation, Canadian legal history, and self-government. Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada. Asch, M (Ed.). Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.
Arnot, David. (2010, June 10). The honour of First Nations – The honour of the Crown: The unique relationship of First Nations with the Crown. Unpublished paper presented at The Crown in Canada: Present Realities and Future Options, Ottawa.
Infrastructure, Water Quality, and Housing on Reserves: Issues Around Access to Resources and Appropriation of Land
First Nations Poverty in Canada
Ottawa's Promise to Fix First Nations Water Crisis Still Falling Short: Report
The Housing Conditions of Aboriginal People in Canada
First Nations Schools Are Chronically Underfunded
O'Gorman, M., & Penner, S. (2018). Water infrastructure and well-being among First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals in Canada: What does the Data tell us? Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 1-18.
Canada's Waterless Communities: Shoal Lake 40
Concerns Mount Over Federal Government's Indigenous Housing Contest
Inuit in a Changing World
Martin, D.H. (2011). “Now we got lots to eat and they’re telling us not to eat it”: Understanding changes to south-east Labrador Inuit relationships to food." International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 70(4): 384-95.
Climate Change Impact is a way of looking at the effects climate change has on the people and environment of Nunavut, over time.
Adaptation is the way we change our behaviour to deal with the impacts of climate change. In Nunavut, that can mean anything from finding new hunting routes as sea levels change to altering the way we build our homes as permafrost thaws.
Inuit Must Adapt to Climate Change
Not Just the Face of Climate Change: Inuit Want a Say in Canada's Climate Strategy
The Inuit Way: A Guide to Inuit Culture, Produced by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada
5 Indigenous Artists Keeping Cultural Traditions Alive with Their Work
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami: We Work to Improve the Health and Wellbeing of Inuit
Welcome to Nuluaq: The Inuit Community-Based Food Initiatives Mapping Project
National Strategy on Inuit Education
Inuit Relocation, 1950s and 1960s
An Apology for the Inuit Five Decades in the Making
Broken Promises – The High Arctic Relocation (Film)
Inuit View on Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty
The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953-55 Relocation
Laws of Indigenous Assimilation in Canada: The Loss of Status and Barriers to Community Well-Being
Coates, K. (2008). The Indian Act and the future of Aboriginal governance in Canada. Research Paper for the National Centre for First Nations Governance.
An Act for the Gradual Enfranchisement of Indians
Got Status? Indian Status in Canada Explained, Sort Of
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Position Paper
Losing Legal Status (Enfranchisement)
Enfranchisement as a Canadian Federal Government Assimilation Policy
Gradual Civilization Act, 1857
“Indian,” Status, and the Indian Act’s Role in Defining Identity
Indian Act and Enfranchisement of Indigenous Peoples
The Long-Term Impact of Métis Leader Louis Riel’s Execution in 1885
Proclamation by the Provisional Government, Dec. 8, 1869
Louis Riel. Also see: Louis Riel—A Timeline
Fulfilling Canada’s Promise: Métis Rights. Recognized and Affirmed.
Doyle, D. G. (2017). Louis Riel: Let Justice Be Done. Vancouver, British Columbia: Ronsdale Press.
“R. v. Powley was the first major Aboriginal Rights case concerning Métis peoples. The Powley decision resulted in “the Powley Test,” which laid out a set of criteria to not only define what might constitute a Métis right, but also who is entitled to those rights. Although the Powley decision defined Métis rights as they relate to hunting, many legal experts and Métis leaders view the Powley case as potentially instrumental in the future of recognizing Métis rights.”
Nation-to-Nation Relationships
Nickerson, M. (2017). Characteristics of a Nation-to-Nation Relationship. Institute on Governance.
Sovereignty: Do First Nations Need It?
Sovereignty and Indigenous Peoples in North America
APTN's Nation-To-Nation Episodes
Positive Changes Driven by First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples
Aboriginal Language Preservation
Indigenous Political Organization and Activism in Canada
Indigenous Self-Government in Canada
In a First for a Canadian Court, the SCC Recognizes Aboriginal Title for Tsilhqotin Nation
Castellano, M. B., Archibald, L. (2013). Healing Historic Trauma: A Report From the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Volume 4: Moving Forward, Making a Difference. White, J. P. et. al.
At the Crossroads video (8th Fire series)
Reclaiming Identity: Band Membership, Citizenship and the Inherent Right
Aboriginal Business: Promise and Prosperity
A Look at 6 Aboriginal-Run Businesses in Canada
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
First Nations University of Canada
List of Indigenous Canadian Politicians
Potlatch and the Potlatch Ban
Carrielynn Victor-Xemontalot discuss the “Potlatch Ban” (Video)
The Importance of Potlatch (Video)
Potlatch 67-67 with Rob Everson
The “Potlatch Law” & Section 141
Prime Minister's Apology to Aboriginal Peoples Concerning Indian Residential Schools, June 11 2008
Henderson J., Wakeham, P. (2009). Colonial Reckoning, National Reconciliation?: Aboriginal Peoples and the Culture of Redress in Canada. ESC, 35(1), 1-26.
Dorell, M. (2009). From Reconciliation to Reconciling: Reading What “We Now Recognize” in the Government of Canada’s 2008 Residential Schools Apology. ESC, 35(1), 27-45.
Stephen Harper’s Apology and the Forgotten Residential Schools of Labrador
MacKinnon, S. (2012) Fast Facts: The Harper 'apology': Residential schools and Bill C-10. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The Statement of Apology, Stephen Harper
Relationship Between Reserves and Traditional Territories
Reserves and Traditional Territory
Our Homes Are Bleeding: “stories of cut-off lands in British Columbia” (Digital Collection)
First Nation Profiles Government of Canada Interactive Map Featuring Reserves
Interactive Map of Indigenous Ancestral Territories in North America
Treaties, Land Claims and Reserves – “During the 19th century, Indigenous people were moved off their land and onto reserves, which represented only a portion of their original territory. These reserves were allocated through the establishment of treaties and through the Indian Reserve Commission. Today, federally recognized First Nations live on and operate their own governments on reserves. However, First Nations have traditional territories beyond reserves.”
Harris, C. (2002). Making native space: Colonialism, resistance, and reserves in British Columbia. Vancouver, B.C: University of British Columbia Press.
Systemic Racism
Educators Call on Universities to Help Fight Institutional Racism Following Stanley Verdict
Forms of Racism: Individual and Systemic Racism
Canada’s First Nations: A Legacy of Institutional Racism
Systemic Racism and Aboriginal women
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Broken System: Why is a Quarter of Canada’s Prison Population Indigenous?
Foster Care System One of the Paths to Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women
First Nations Schools Are Chronically Underfunded
The Aim of Residential Schools
Barman, J. (2012). Schooled for Inequality: The Education of British Columbia Aboriginal Children. In Burke, S. Z. & Milewski, P. (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in Canadian History of Education. (pp. 253-286). Toronto, On: University of Toronto Press.
Bev, S. (2013). They Called Me Number One. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks.
Kelm, M. (1996). A Scandalous Procession”: Residential Schooling and the Re/formation of Aboriginal Bodies, 1900-1950. Native Studies Review, 11(2), 51-88.
Milloy, J. S. (1999). A National Crime. Winnipeg, MB: The University of Manitoba Press.
Project of Heart: Illuminating the Hidden History of Indian Residential Schools in BC
What Was the Residential School System?
Smith, D. (2001). The "Policy of Aggressive Civilization" and Projects of Governance in Roman Catholic Industrial Schools for Native Peoples in Canada, 1870-95. Anthropologica, 43(2), 253-271.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
The Consequences of Residential Schools For First Nations, Métis, and Inuit People
A Lost Heritage: Canada’s Residential Schools. Topic spans: 1955 - 2002 (Video)
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, & University of Manitoba. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. (2016). A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (& abridg ed.). Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press.
Grant, A. (1996). No End of Grief: Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Winnipeg: Pemmican Pub.
Bombay, A., Matheson, K., & Anisman, H. (2014). The Intergenerational Effects of Indian Residential Schools: Implications for the Concept of Historical Trauma. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 320-338.
O’Neill, L., Fraser, T., Kitchenham, A., & McDonald, V. (2018). Hidden Burdens: A Review of Intergenerational, Historical and Complex Trauma, Implications for Indigenous Families. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 11(2), 173-186. doi:10.1007/s40653-016-0117-9
Partridge, C. (2010). Residential Schools: The Intergenerational Impacts on Aboriginal Peoples.
Native Social Work Journal, 7:pp.33-62.
The Roles of the Churches in Administering Residential Schools
Pope Will Not Apologize for Abuse in Canada's Indigenous Schools
Former Head of TRC Decries Pope’s Refusal to Apologize for Residential Schools
Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action about Churches Apologies and Reconciliation: "58. We call upon the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools. We call for that apology to be similar to the 2010 apology issued to Irish victims of abuse and to occur within one year of the issuing of this Report and to be delivered by the Pope in Canada."
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, & University of Manitoba. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. (2016). A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (& abridg ed.). Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press.
The 1876 Indian Act: Defining "Indian" Status and Exclusion From Full Membership in Canadian Society
Assimilation: Not a Hidden Objective
“An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians.”
Borrows, J. (2008). Seven Generations, Seven Teachings: Ending the Indian Act. Research Paper for the National Centre for First Nations Governance.
Cannon, M. J. (2006). First Nations Citizenship. Canadian Review of Social Policy, 56, 40-71.
The 1876 Indian Act: Gender Discrimination and its Continuing Effects
Lawrence, B. (2003). Gender, Race, and the Regulation of Native Identity in Canada and the United States. Hypatia, 18(2), 3-31.
Bill C-31 and Gender Discrimination
Borrows, J., Rotman, L.I. (2012). "Aboriginal Women." Aboriginal Legal Issues: Cases, Materials and Commentary (2nd ed). Markham: LexisNexis Canada.
Cannon, M.J. "Race Matters: Sexism, Indigenous Sovereignty, and McIvor." Canadian Journal of Women and the Law/Revue Femmes Et Droit, 26(1): 23-50.
Palmater, P. (2011). Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity. Saskatoon: Purich.
McIvor, S.D. (2004). Aboriginal Women Unmasked: Using Equality Litigation to Advance Women's Rights. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law/Revue Femmes Et Droit, 16(1): 106-36.
The 1927 Indian Act Amendment: Raising Money or Hiring Lawyers to Pursue Land Claims Is Illegal
Section 141: "When Aboriginal political organizing became more extensive in the 1920s and groups began to pursue land claims, the federal government added Section 141 to the Indian Act. Section 141 outlawed the hiring of lawyers and legal counsel by Indians, effectively barring Aboriginal peoples from fighting for their rights through the legal system. Eventually, these laws expanded to such a point that virtually any gathering was strictly prohibited and would result in a jail term. These amendments presented a significant barrier to Aboriginal political organizing and many organizations had to disband. However, it did not entirely stop political organizing—Aboriginal organizations such as the Nisga’a Land Committee and the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia managed to continue to organize the fight for their rights underground."
An Act to Amend the Indian Act, 1927
The Modern British Columbia Treaty Process
Current Treaty Negotiations in British Columbia
Aboriginal Title in British Columbia
Comprehensive Land Claims: Modern Treaties
SCC Tsilhqot’in Decision and Canada’s First Nations Termination Policies
Certainty: Canada’s Struggle to Extinguish Aboriginal Title
Borrows, J. (2015). The durability of terra nullius: Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia. University of British Columbia Law Review, 48(3), 701.
The Obligation to Uphold Treaties
Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada
The 1969 White Paper : Canada’s attempt to “absolv[e] itself of its … obligation to uphold treaty rights”
'Children of the Broken Treaty' Exposes Canada's Shameful Treatment of Indigenous People
Maps of Treaty-Making in Canada
Coyle, M., & Borrows, J. (2017). The right relationship: Reimagining the implementation of historical treaties. London;Toronto;Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
Traditional Territory
An Overview of Guides to Research: First Nations & Maps
First Nations Map of British Columbia
Interactive Map of Indigenous Ancestral Territories in North America
Hay ch qa’ sii’em siye’yu mukw mustimuxw (Thank you respected ones of this place)
Traditional Use of Inuksuk
Documenting Traditional Knowledge relating to Labrador Inuksuit and Other Stone Markers
Figures made of stone called inuksuit (singular inuksuk, also spelled inukshuk) are among the most important objects created by the INUIT, who were the first people to inhabit portions of Alaska, Arctic Canada and Greenland.
Unceded Territory
“There's a big difference between treaty land and unceded land”
Horgan's Acknowledgment of Unceded Indigenous Territory a Milestone for B.C.
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Informed Consent and the Behaviour of Businesses and the Government of Canada
Imai, S. (2017). Consult, consent, and veto: International norms and Canadian treaties. In J. Borrows & M. Coyle (Eds.), The right relationship: Reimagining the implementation of historical treaties (pp. 370–408). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Lenzerini, F. (2017). The land rights of Indigenous Peoples under international law. In M. Graziadei & L. Smith (Eds.), Comparative property law: Global perspectives (pp. 393–411). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lightfoot, S. R. (2012). Selective endorsement without intent to implement: Indigenous rights and the anglosphere. International Journal of Human Rights, 16(1), 100–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2012.622139
United Nations Declaration. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. United Nations General Assembly, (Resolution 61/295), 10. https://doi.org/10.1093/iclqaj/24.3.577
Venne, S. H. (2011). The road to the United Nations and Rights of Indigenous peoples. Griffith Law Review, 20(3), 557–577.
Watson, I. (2011). The 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Indigenous survival-- Where to from here? Griffith Law Review, 20(3), 507–514.
Ski resort development free to proceed on sacred First Nation Land
Court Quashes Trudeau’s Approval of Trans Mountain Pipeline
Recognition of Rights or Termination of Rights Framework?
Hoogeveen, D. (2015). Sub‐surface property, Free‐entry mineral staking and settler colonialism in Canada. Antipode, 47(1), 121-138.
Peterson St-Laurent, G., & Billon, P. L. (2015). Staking claims and shaking hands: Impact and benefit agreements as a technology of government in the mining sector. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2(3), 590-602.
Cameron, E., & Levitan, T. (2014). Impact and Benefit Agreements and the neoliberalization of resource governance and Indigenous-State relations in Northern Canada. Studies in Political Economy, 93, 1.
Welcome Poles at Shq’apthut, Vancouver Island University
Lost in translation: The Douglas treaties
The Fort Victoria and Other Vancouver Island Treaties, 1850-1854
Thom, B. (2009). The paradox of boundaries in Coast Salish territories. Cultural Geographies, 16(2), 179-205. doi:10.1177/1474474008101516
Kwakwaka'wakw. Also see: Kwakwaka'wakw
Nuu Chah Nulth. Also see: Nuu-chah-nulth
Carvers Bring Passion for Culture and Tradition to VIU Totem Project