Carleton University plans to rename three campus buildings—University Centre, Residence Commons and Robertson Hall—to better reflect the school’s diverse community, the university announced in February.
In a press release, the university said it is “keenly aware that the names of our buildings—like those on campuses across Canada—are not representative of our community or the current Canadian population.”
The new names will reflect different cultural communities. The university said it will engage Algonquin communities, notably Kitigan Zibi and Pikwakanagan, to find a new name for the University Centre.
Similarly, the university said it will involve Black communities in the renaming of Residence Commons and Inuit communities in renaming Robertson Hall.
Student advocacy leads to Robertson Hall renaming
The decision to rename Robertson Hall is particularly important to a group of Carleton students who said they advocated for the change for nearly a year, despite not being recognized by the university for their work.
After meeting through a human rights class in fall 2019, Carleton students Nadeea Rahim, Emily Scott, Mackenzie Dawson and Aliqa Illauq organized a petition in June 2020 that called for the university to rename Robertson Hall.
Roberston Hall is named after Gordon Robertson, who served as chancellor of Carleton from 1980 to 1990.
Robertson was also deputy minister of northern affairs and commissioner of the Northwest Territories in the 1950s, when 17 Inuit families were relocated from Inukjuak, Que. to Aujuittuq, or Grise Fiord, and Resolute Bay in the High Arctic.
Canada was seeking to exert its sovereignty in the High Arctic. The government promised the families better hunting and the option to return to Inukjuak in two years, but the families were forced to stay in the High Arctic without government support.
The class learned about Robertson’s involvement in the High Arctic Inuit relocation after Illauq, an Inuk student from Nunavut, spoke with their professor about Indigenous resurgence and Arctic sovereignty.
Illauq said the discussions with their professor, Patrizia Gentile, were meaningful because they never felt pressured to justify their experiences.
“It was really amazing because there [was] this professor who was willing to listen [to] how Inuit teach each other,” Illauq said.
Gentile said she had already planned to discuss the relocation of the Inuit families with the class, but after Illauq shared their experiences, “it was absolutely imperative for me to change my lecture and do that focus.”
At the end of the course, Gentile told her students to take what they learned and put it into action.
Months later, as George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis sparked a movement to end systemic racism, Rahim and Scott said they felt the need to hold the university accountable. They connected with Illauq and Dawson and turned their attention to Robertson Hall.
“We didn’t want more empty words. We wanted to take action,” Scott said. “We came from different walks of life, and we were on opposite corners of the room and came together to do this and to take action.”
The group spent summer 2020 collecting petition signatures and meeting with university administrators. They also compiled briefs on Robertson and the Inuit relocation programs, which included personal statements from Illauq.
While the team wanted to meet with the Robertson family to explain their efforts and Illauq’s story, they said the university did not provide them with contact information. Instead, Carleton relayed information from the group to the Robertson family.
By the end of 2020, the group stopped hearing from the university.
According to Illauq, when Carleton first contacted the Robertson family about renaming the building, the family was reluctant and afraid Robertson’s legacy would be damaged.
However, Illauq said the family changed their mind after Illauq sent them a letter explaining their perspective and experiences.
“[The Robertson family was] open to a completely different perspective,” Illauq said. “They were open to a completely different history of what actually happened.”
The Charlatan was unable to reach the Robertson family for comment.
Rahim said the Robertson family requested a plaque about Robertson’s life and work be placed in Robertson Hall. Illauq said the plaque is important to the group, as they want to recognize different perspectives on history.
“Our interpretation and our understanding of history are very different,” Illauq said. “It’s very important to us and me that Gordon Robertson’s family gets that plaque and it is put on campus because he was a [chancellor] at Carleton.”
Scott said the group’s activism was never intended as an attack on Robertson or his family, but they want to recognize and address the ongoing impacts of colonialism in Canada.
Rahim said the team’s advocacy showed her the importance of pushing for change.
“This is something you never learn in a classroom,” Rahim said. “This is stuff that you have to be a part of. You have to be part of the change.”
Illauq said their discussions with Gentile and the success of the group’s work have given them hope as an Inuk in Canada.
“It makes me have hope that we can bridge all of our different worldviews and live in a reciprocal relationship with each other, and move forward,” Illauq said.
