A Secwepemc student at Thompson Rivers University is looking to see a change in the way of parking.
Nicole Peters has started a petition to stop her school from charging fellow Secwepemc students for parking. Peters created the petition on Change.org on Thursday and has already gathered 160 signatures.
Peters notes that if the university acknowledges and honours the Secwepemc ancestors than they shouldn't be charging their children.
"While attending Thompson Rivers University, one of the first things you hear is the teacher reciting the Land Acknowledgment," wrote Peters. "'The campuses of Thompson Rivers University are located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwepemc Nation within Secwepemcul'ecw. As we share knowledge, teaching, learning, and research within this university, we recognize that this territory has always been a place of teaching, learning and research.'"
"If the university acknowledges and honours the Secwepemc and ancestral peoples who have lived here for thousands of years — upon whose traditional and unceded land Thompson Rivers University is located, why would they charge the children of these ancestors to pay to park? TRU has one of the largest Indigenous student populations among BC post-secondary institutions, with well over 2,000 students, and benefiting financially already because of the tuition paid but furthermore by the parking fees on unceded land."
Peters went on to say that in her eyes, all Indienous students should park for free as "they are visitors to Secwepemc territory," and visitors shouldn't have to pay.
To read more on the petition, click here.
