THUNDER BAY — A seven-figure donation from one of Canada’s big banks will go to constructing a new indoor-outdoor space for Indigenous education and cultural engagement at Lakehead University.
The construction of the space is part of the university’s Gichi Kendaasiwin project. It will serve as a gathering place for Indigenous learners, as well as a space to build relationships between students, elders and knowledge keepers, while supporting programs like the Indigenous Transition Year Program and the Indigenous Cultural Traditions Club.
The $1 million donation came from BMO. It is slated to be spread out over five years.
“As part of the president's focus on centre and reconciliation, we're really looking at ways that we can create better opportunities, more improved opportunities, and access for Indigenous students and community,” said Denise Baxter, the school’s Vice Provost of Indigenous Initiatives.
“So, this gift is really going to help us create that space on our campus.”
Baxter said the current location of the sweat lodge is will likely be spot for the new facility.
The university said that it remains committed to strengthening learning experiences for Indigenous people at the school, with approximately 13 per cent of the student body identifying as Indigenous.
“We now know that students are looking for more spaces on our campus — Indigenous students — that they need spaces that are relevant to Indigenous culture, ways of knowing, ways of learning, that are smaller, more intimate," said Mike den Haan, LU's vice president of university advancement. "So, we're creating spaces around the campus.”
The reimagined space, Baxter said, will allow for community gatherings, research circles, opportunities for students to work with elders and land-based learning.
“We'll be looking at space that will be something that's very tangible and manageable for us,” Baxter said, adding that exactly what it will look like will still depend on further community consultation.
The Gichi Kendaasiwin project was originally announced in 2016 and, at the time, was seeded $1 million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund. The then-$34 million building was slated to house all of the university’s Indigenous-focused programs and academic departments. It was supposed to be a three-storey, 73,000 sq. ft. structure.
In 2020, the school was still lobbying senior levels of government for funding.
Baxter said that the price tag on that project would now be around $50 million and other large issues requiring government funding have come to the forefront.
“Housing is a is a major concern and issue across the country,” she said. “Recognizing the realities of the political climate and just the realities of life, we still have that building (plan) there.
“What we have decided to do is to, rather than waiting to raise $50 million, we have decided to still take that idea of higher education, having spaces for Indigenous learners, community research and just reimagine what it can be.”
Groundbreaking is expected to take place this year, den Haan said, adding that the hope is to have students able to use it within two years.
"This will be a keystone space for us," den Haan said. "So the scope has now changed, the scale of this, into a more, I'll say more manageable, but also more realistic and a well matched space for our Indigenous students today."
For BMO, the donation fits in with the organization’s “three pillars” of its Indigenous strategy, with one of them being education, said Dan Adams, the vice president of BMO’s Indigenous banking unit for Ontario.
“Education is extremely important and we're proud to support this new campus and Indigenous learning for all students and to have a … great experience for Indigenous students in Thunder Bay,” said Adams, adding that the contribution — which is significant in terms of what the bank generally donates — will also go to building something new.
“We're really happy that this is going to be the first of its kind right here in Thunder Bay,” he said. “This campus is going to be amazing for learning and education and reconciliation for us all.”
University officials said the recent contribution to the reimagined space is welcome.
“The million-dollar gift is an incredible opportunity,” Baxter said. “We're super thrilled that BMO has seen the opportunity that this has for the community, in northwestern Ontario and in this area of Anemki Wajiw.”
- With files from Leigh Nunan
