Nov. 02, 2011 - Issue #837: Cleopatra’s Sister

Entrenched history

Colonialism is found in our academic institutions today

The Alberta Public Interest Research Group is attempting to spend the year examining the culture of colonialism at the University of Alberta campus, how it manifests in academia and the community as a whole. This September, APIRG organized a tour of campus examining the ways in which colonialism still exists and is taught on campus. When interviewed about the tour back in September, APIRG's outreach coordinator Louise Veillard wanted to take the opportunity to examine what it is we're taught. "We wanted to bring to light that sometimes the history or the knowledge we're taught is not necessarily objective," says Veillard. The tour examined spaces that students and teachers pass on their daily coffee run, walking from class and studying in the library and how, sometimes, we need to take a second look.



Located in University Hall, the home to the University's council and senate meetings, as well as the upper administration of the University—the president, provost and the vice-presidents—copies of Treaty 6, 7 and 8 are found on the walls of a small meeting space off to the side of the council chambers. The three treaties are the primary agreements governing the relationship between the federal government and most Aboriginal tribes in Alberta. Treaty 6, which governs the land of the Papaschase people who once lived in what is now the campus area, would come to be challenged when a questionable land deal removed the promised Papaschase reserve.
The land stretching across the south side of the river valley along what is now campus property was once used by the Papaschase for hunting. The river valley was a gathering place and a major crossroads for the nomadic peoples who used the lands and travelled with the seasons. This history may have already been forgotten by the time Premier Alexander Rutherford declared Strathcona the site of the first secular university in Western Canada, but it was only 20 years earlier that settlers took the land from the Papaschase people.
In 1880, as Treaty 6 was being negotiated, a federal surveyor determined the Papaschase people were entitled to 124 square kilometres of land on the south side of the river valley. In 1881, settlers begin to petition the government to remove the band. The reserve land of the Papaschase went from the promised 124 square kilometers to 40, until it was eventually taken away under suspicious circumstances when a surrender document was signed in 1888 at a meeting called with four days notice. The land was then sold to settlers, and a portion would eventually become what we know as the University of Alberta.

Pembina Hall, one of the first campus buildings, is now the home to the Faculty of Native Studies. A teepee is constructed on the front lawn of the building at the beginning of every school year with guidance from elders in the community and artwork added by aboriginal artists. Contradicting this presence is the remnants of a more historic colonialism. Pembina Hall was once home to the Wuanita Club, a women's group on campus during the early years of university life. The women often "played Indian" and a message that remains engraved in the wall reflects that past. The phrase, "All for one and one for all" remains in Cree—a phrase co-tour guide Dwayne Donald says would not have existed in the Cree language.

The debate over what to do with these remnants of colonized history are perhaps best exemplified in the Glyde Mural. Painted on the wall of the Rutherford South library, the mural is impossible to remove without completely destroying it, but it depicts a racist and ancient view of aboriginal peoples. The mural, created by HG Glyde in 1951, depicts what has been called the "civilizing of the warlike Indians" with aboriginal people depicted sitting in loincloths, listening intently to the prominent figures of Father Lacombe, a missionary, and learning from the other traders depicted.
There has been an attempt to remove the Glyde mural, or encourage the creation of an alternate mural on another wall of the library. A plaque was created next to the mural to create further discussion rather than allow the mural to passively exist in a room of study and quiet contemplation.

Depictions of the past remain a controversial subject. The University holds one of the largest collections by Gregory Javitch. Interested in Aboriginal culture across North America, Javitch began collecting photographs, books and pamphlets documenting the attempt to "civilize" the continent's Aboriginal peoples. The collection contains over 2300 items and took years for Javitch to collect out of his own personal interest in documenting a culture he knew was being forced out of existence.

Despite this history, the University of Alberta is home to one of the only Faculties of Native Studies in Canada, and an Aboriginal Student Council. The Student Council is housed in the old powerplant building. Aboriginal students have attempted to create a decolonized space where they can decompress from the pressure of university life. Students share their frustrations over academic analysis of what is often their own lived experience. As U of A student Jody Stonehouse described it, "It's like walking two worlds: it can be a balancing act."
APIRG hopes to continue this discussion by integrating the guiding question, "What does colonization look like today?" into future events and discussions throughout the year. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus