Having grown up along the shores of the Comox Valley, Danielle Bilozaze-Lewis set her sights on studying marine biology. Graduating top of her high school class, Bilozaze-Lewis had lots of university options, but the University of Victoria (UVic) checked all the boxes: breadth of marine sciences courses, not too far from home, and wrap-around supports for Indigenous students.
When Bilozaze-Lewis received the Joyce Family Foundation Award, it removed one major obstacle the financial cost of university. With tuition funds secured, Bilozaze-Lewis was able to start her post-secondary journey and immerse herself in the student experience.
"I am so grateful for this opportunity to attend my first-choice school and join the exciting field of STEM, a field where people who are Indigenous and identify as female are underrepresented," she says.
"This award is encouraging me along my educational path and enabling me to pursue my goals with confidence."
A $2-million endowment
Maureen O'Neill, the executive director of the Joyce Family Foundation, and Jim Dunsdon, Associate Vice-President, student affairs.
This fall, the Joyce Family Foundation expanded its support for UVic students who face financial barriers to education. The foundation's recent gift of $1.5 million, in addition to a gift of $500,000 in 2016, brings its total donation for the endowed award to $2 million.
From 2025 onwards, multiple students will receive up to $8,000 a year toward their undergraduate education, renewable for each year of their program.
Jim Dunsdon, associate vice-president of student affairs, shares the significance of this enduring gift.
It's an honour to receive this generous donation from the foundation, building on our 10-year partnership. Over the past several years, I've seen how this award can assist students who are committed to a university education by removing financial barriers that would prevent them from bringing their strengths and aspirations to the university."
Jim Dunsdon, Associate Vice-President, student affairs
"This award allows them to undertake their journey, knowing they have four years of financial support to help them succeed. The award enables UVic to address student barriers and support diverse, talented minds."
Ron Joyce's legacy
Ron Joyce founded the Joyce Family Foundation 30 years ago. Joyce is best known as the entrepreneur who invested in the first Tim Hortons shop and helped develop the chain into a Canadian success story. His outlook was shaped by the adversity he faced and overcame in his early life.
"Having been through the experiences that he lived as a young man, he was truly, sincerely, a genuine philanthropist," explains Maureen O'Neill, the executive director of the Joyce Family Foundation.
"He was concerned not only about the opportunities before young people in Canada but also their feeling of worth, nobility and happiness. The foundation is guided by Ron's sincere well-wishing for the younger segments of our population."
Farther west than schools the foundation had previously supported, UVic stood out among the rest. It was UVic's response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action that caught the foundation's attention in 2016, resulting in its first gift to the university.
"This was early days after the resolutions were made public," says O'Neill. "UVic had clear strategies to increase access for Indigenous students, and the foundation board could see that this was part of an overall strategy at UVic that would provide more holistic consideration to supporting Indigenous students and communities."
Now in 2025, the foundation has tripled its original commitment, pledging an additional $1.5-million gift. It will extend the award to include all students who face financial difficulty but will maintain the focus on supporting at least one Indigenous student per year, for four years of their undergraduate degree.
Belief, confidence, hope
The renewable award means Bilozaze-Lewis started her second year at UVic with the same holistic supports in place a significant financial award, accommodation, cultural and social activities in the Indigenous Living Learning Community, and a family and home community that continues to lift her up and walk alongside her in her journey.
"When I began high school, my mom would tell me, You are unconditionally supported.' This small mantra allowed me to see that everything happens for a reason, and everything always works out. Although the mantra is short, it has allowed me to ease the anxiety I feel in difficult times," she says.
O'Neill says Bilozaze-Lewis's story is one that resonates with the foundation's vision for the award, as well as Joyce's original focus on supporting future generations.
"The emphasis of this gift is on those individual recipients. They are the ones who shine, as well as their many supporters teachers, parents, community members who, along the way, have given them not only belief in themselves but also confidence and hope," says O'Neill.
"The financial gift from the foundation is simply one piece of a large puzzle; the full picture of that puzzle is the individual and the vision they have set out for themselves."
