Qwul’sih’yah’maht (Robina Thomas) is a member of Lyackson First Nation and has Snuy’ney’muxw and Sto:lo ancestry through her grandparents.

Robina is currently the University of Victoria’s Vice-President, Indigenous. Robina was the inaugural director and executive director of the Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement (IACE) and special advisor to the president. She is a Professor with a faculty position in the School of Social Work where she started her career at UVic as a visiting lecturer in 1998 and accepted a tenure track position in 2001.

Her research focuses extensively on Indigenous women, children, residential schools, storytelling, and anti-colonial/anti-racist practices as a way of life. Her master’s thesis focused on Kuper Island Residential School and her PhD. dissertation focused on Indigenous Women and Leadership — “Protecting the Sacred Cycle: Indigenous Women and Leadership”.

Robina’s accomplishments as the executive director of IACE and special advisor to the president have included:

• Leading the establishment of the Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement and facilitated the release of the university’s first Indigenous Plan;

• Re-establishing the Indigenous Cultural Acumen Training program and piloting a program to pay Elders as Specialist Instructors;

• Creating space for Indigenous representation on numerous university committees.

• Co-chairing the National Building Reconciliation Forum.