Students at Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig have joined their counterparts at Algoma University in refusing to celebrate Canada 150 events.
Shingwauk Anishnaabe Students' Association (SASA) has joined Algoma University Students' Union in opposing Canada 150 celebrations on the Algoma U campus.
Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig was established in 2008 by Shingwauk Education Trust.
Algoma University is bound by a formal covenant with Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig through which both parties pledge to work together to advance Anishinaabe education and research.
The board of Algoma University Students' Union voted unanimously on Thursday against endorsing or sanctioning any Canada 150-related events on campus or elsewhere in the city.
Algoma University issued a formal statement about the issue on Friday.
The following was posted by SASA on its public Facebook page:
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On behalf of Shingwauk Anishinaabe Students Association, we also oppose the celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary that is going to happen at our institution, Algoma University.
We will not celebrate the genocidal tactics that were forcefully imposed upon our ancestors that left intergenerational affects on our nations across Canada.
We will not celebrate the lives that were lost across continent and that were buried here, on site.
We WILL celebrate the languages that are struggling to revive and survive.
We will not celebrate the contamination of our waters.
We will not celebrate our children being place into the child welfare system.
We will not celebrate the missing of our women and men.
We will not celebrate the murders of our women and men without any further investigations.
We will not celebrate deaths of our youth.
We will not celebrate a legislation that continues to assimilate us.
We will not celebrate a country that continues to impress the globe that hides the history of how this country was built.
We are not asking you to discontinue your celebrations, but encouraging you to remember and honour the nations who are struggling to continue to live life in a country that systemically discriminates against our nations.
Photo ops and speeches aren't apart reconciliation, actions are,
Miigwech
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