Research • Policy • Education • Action

The POLIS Project on Ecological Governance is a hub for collaborative and action-oriented research, policy practice, and education, and an integral part of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria. Our mission is to support ecological thinking and action as a core value and practice in all aspects of society, dismantling the notion that “the environment” is merely another sector.

POLIS creates an engaging space for academic researchers, community practitioners, and policy decision-makers to come together and demonstrate the powerful potential in collaborative governance arrangements based in ecological principles—arrangements that explicitly recognize human and ecological well-being as fundamental to healthy watersheds, biological diversity, and protection of Indigenous biocultural heritage. We support relational approaches to community-driven collaboration and stewardship that foster intercultural understanding, respect for diverse knowledge systems, and recognition of inherent Indigenous rights and responsibilities.

POLIS is committed to supporting meaningful and ethical reconciliation with Indigenous peoples guided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Reports and Calls to Action, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and the laws, ethics, and protocols of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.

polis team