Speaker explores history, imagination and Indigenous futures in VIU talk – VIU

June 29, 2026

For more than a decade, Vancouver Island University’s Indigenous Speakers Series has challenged audiences to think more deeply about truth, reconciliation and Indigenous futures. This year’s lecture continued that tradition with an intimate, powerful reflection from award-winning Cree writer and scholar Billy-Ray Belcourt, whose words moved beyond history alone to ask what it means to imagine Indigenous lives beyond colonialism.

Drawing on personal memories, family stories and the history of his home community in northwestern Alberta, Belcourt explored the lingering presence of residential schools, the ways colonial violence continues to shape the present and the transformative power of literature to envision different futures. Rather than viewing reconciliation as an endpoint, he invited listeners to consider how storytelling can open new possibilities for understanding, healing and Indigenous flourishing.

Read More: https://news.viu.ca/speaker-explores-history-imagination-and-indigenous-futures-viu-talk