UBC is deeply committed to engagement and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and supports the standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. To advance our commitment, UBC strives to ensure that research projects involving or affecting Indigenous peoples are built on mutually beneficial, reciprocal and accountable relationships.
UBC is also immensely proud of our astronomy scholars who have made significant scientific contributions to their field of study and have expanded understanding of our world and the cosmos.
Projects such as the TMT enable astronomers to make groundbreaking discoveries about cosmic objects. However, consistent with UNDRIP, UBC believes that projects like TMT should be established where local communities are supportive.
As such, and in light of the concerns expressed by Hawaii’s Indigenous community and others from around the world, we are asking that the astronomy community place a 60-day moratorium on the project to allow for the fulsome consideration of other potential sites for TMT.
UBC will continue to ensure the concerns from our community are communicated to ACURA. We trust that ACURA will work to ensure that its projects and processes respect the rights of Indigenous people, whether in Canada or around the world, and will proceed in ways that are mutually beneficial, ethical and reciprocal.
Sincerely,
Santa J. Ono
President & Vice-Chancellor
Gail Murphy, Ph.D.
Vice-President, Research and Innovation