KPU waives tuition for students from seven local First Nations. Will other B.C. schools follow?

Kwantlen Polytechnic University will be among the first post-secondary schools in Canada to offer Indigenous students free tuition in the fall, an initiative that is more common in the United States.

The university will waive tuition for new and current students who are members of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Musqueam, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlem First Nations, president Alan Davis said in a news release earlier this week, calling education “fundamental to reconciliation.”

The announcement comes after the University of Waterloo in Ontario said it will waive tuition for students who are members of two local bands beginning this fall, making it the first university in Canada to do so. Some post-secondary schools in the U.S. already give free tuition to some Indigenous students, including the University of California, University of Arizona, and Oregon State.

KPU Chancellor Kwuntiltunaat, also known as Kim Baird, said post-secondary schools have a critical role to play in how Indigenous people and Canadians move forward.