Fall Orientation events organized by the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) will open with acknowledgments of campus being on Algonquin territory as of the 2015-16 school year. This is a result of a motion passed by CUSA council.
CUSA council passed the motion at their July 20 meeting. The motion was put forward by Carleton’s Aboriginal Service Centre administrative co-ordinator Ash Courchene.
Courchene said he believes the acknowledgments will teach students the history of the land they are on.
“It will shock them. In history they learn, chapter one: There is native people. [In] chapter two, they disappear,” Courchene said. “They will question their Canadian identity.”
He added this acknowledgement is an important step in the process of “the unlearning and relearning of history.”
Sahil Arora, a public affairs and policy management student, said he believes the acknowledgments are a measure of respect and a step in the right direction.
“Acknowledging the territory as unceded Aboriginal land and recognizing that others had a special relationship with this land long before our arrival is a small but necessary step,” Arora said.
Other students, however, question the effectiveness of this new ruling. Emily D’Orazio, a journalism student, said she does not think the acknowledgments should be made before all events, but rather just some.
“I think that it’s important that students are informed that the school is on Aboriginal land, but I don’t think it needs to be incorporated into all events,” D’Orazio said. “If students already learn that Carleton is on Aboriginal land during frosh every year, it won’t need to be repeated.”
Courchene said he passed this motion in hopes that the mention of Carleton’s campus being on Algonquin territory will cause students and faculty to ask questions leading to “a path of decolonization.”
He said he hopes the acknowledgments will help “challenge stereotypes and myths that have invaded many people’s belief system in Canada.”
Courchene added this is not the first change the Aboriginal Service Centre would like to see on campus in regards to Indigenous issues, and they would like to increase the capacity of their reach to students.
