Foundations for Reconciliation

On Sept 16, the 15th annual Pow Wow will take place under a tent on Lower Field, setting the stage for McGill’s Indigenous Awareness Week. As part of the event series, there will be a ceremony to unveil the new site of the Hochelaga Rock, currently located across from the statue of James McGill near the Roddick Gates. The monument, which is the only permanent visual reminder on campus that the university is built on the unceded site of an Iroquois village, has finally been moved into the public eye after years of activism from members of the McGill community. Previously, the Rock had been nearly hidden, acting as an unintentionally ironic symbol of the experience of many indigenous peoples at McGill. A sense of invisibility seems to cloud the narratives of indigenous peoples’ time at McGill University. Leslie Anne St. Amour, the 2015-2016 Indigenous Affairs Coordinator for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and winter 2016 Arts graduate, recounted the marginalization and racism she experienced on campus.