Mix̱alakwila campus: Where dreams become reality 

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For the rural and remote communities of the Island and the West Coast, North Island College has always been there, right from the beginning in 1975.

Getting “there” could sometimes pose a challenge though, and some of the ways the college responded sound like tall tales or the stuff of dreams. NIC served these remote areas using converted school buses to drive down logging roads to communities like Zeballos and Woss, and even a converted former whaling vessel – definitely not your typical campus. 
Two dozen locally staffed learning centres from Alert Bay to San Josef Bay also helped communities diversify their skill base.

Eventually, the region would be served by the then-Mount Waddington campus centred in Port Hardy on what is traditionally the unceded territory of the Kwaguł. Study options  included skill upgrading, health care, land-based learning and more. The campus delivered a number of Indigenous-focused programs like a Kwak’wala course and the Indigenous Focused Education Assistant/Community Support Worker program.

Like the other NIC campuses, the site in Port Hardy has seen a number of changes over the years, such as the opening of a more accessible campus in early 2018. The $1.4 million project was located at Thunderbird Mall and provided 6,000 square feet, which was designed to be accessible to students and the broader community in the region’s main transportation, service and shopping area.

Today, the campus includes four classrooms and an interactive TV room that connects students and instructors with other NIC campuses in real time. The largest space, the Community/Healthcare room, was designed specifically for delivering health programs and first aid training.

A year after it opened, the campus was given the traditional name, Mix̱alakwila, which means “maker of what’s been dreamt about.” It comes from the Kwak’wala language.

As Sara Child, NIC’s Indigenous Education Facilitator, puts it: “Naming the NIC campus in Kwak’wala recognizes and honours the traditional territory of the Kwagu'ł and is an important step towards reconciliation.”