THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University unveiled the new name of a portion of its library on Wednesday.
Community members were invited to attend the naming of the new Indigenous cultural and resource centre located on the fifth floor of the Chancellor Paterson Library.
“One of the greatest things about the space is the view,” said Denise Baxter, vice-provost, Indigenous Initiatives.
“It looks out over Lake Superior or Gichigami, it looks out over Animikii-wajiw, Fort William First Nation, and it really looks out over the city of Thunder Bay from the east and to the south.”
Going forward the centre will be known as Nanda Gikendan Gamik, which Baxter said means seek to know, seek to learn place.
“This is a major part of the collection where we have a lot of our Indigenous resources. There are fiction, non-fiction books that are authored by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people,” Baxter said.
The new name was selected by LU’s Indigenous Elders council and it is intended to be a welcoming gathering place for Indigenous students, staff, and faculty while also providing a place where everyone in the university community can learn more about Indigenous history, culture, and language.
“This has been quite a lengthy process, probably a year and a half. We met with the Elders council, brought tobacco, explained what the centre is and what our hope was,” said Baxter.
“And the Elders council took all that, and then they went away and then they came back, after ceremonial processes that they engaged in, and they brought the name of the space and so that name was really bestowed upon the centre.”
