ABOUT THE CRITICAL CAMPUS TOUR APPROACH:
The Critical Campus Tour (CCT) was developed initially by staff and Indigenous students affiliatedwith the More Than Words project in the Participatory Cultures Lab. The tour is designed to spark thoughtfulness about the sites that McGill University occupies through a truth-seeking and anti-colonial lens.
Having incomplete knowledge of institutional history can lead to furthering oppressive values and actions within higher education. The CCT is an opportunity to engage with sites and monuments that may at first seem mundane, but if we pay attention, stand to teach us about the complexities of historical and ongoing colonial violence. As we look critically at the campus, we also highlight the hopeful work being done by Indigenous students, staff and faculty members who are working to decolonizing this space.
CONTENT WARNING:
Engaging authentically with McGill’s colonial history is to engage with details of systemic racism and specific acts of violence. We are seeking truth, but the process of uncovering truth can cause further harm and re-traumatise, no matter how carefully and respectfully conversations are conducted. Indigenous students have led the development of the CCT, and are rightfully positioned to kick-start conversations about the good, the bad and the ugly things that have taken place on the land McGill now occupies. However, we cannot underestimate the toll continuous retelling of these stories has on young Indigenous people. Indigenous students, staff and faculty members are not responsible for the education and enlightenment of McGill’s settler community; the responsibility rests with settlers and visitors to use the wealth of stories, teachings and resources to meaningfully engage with the hard realities.With this in mind, some sites will be introduced only briefly, with the expectation that participants will continue on their own, lifelong learning pathway.
WALKING THE CAMPUS TOGETHER ON 29 SEPTEMBER:
As part of the Skàtne Entewathahìta, We Will Walk Together event, in-person introductory tours will be facilitated by Indigenous students and faculty members. Small groups will depart from the Faculty of Education, directly after the closing of the event (approximately 10:00am) and will highlight some nearby sites and monuments. The CCT is designed to be interactive and conversational. Facilitators will introduce specific locations and pose questions to the group for discussion and consideration.
BE YOUR OWN GUIDE
Whether you take part in a facilitated tour or access the materials online, the CCT is designed to be a starting point that sparks thoughtfulness and lifelong truth-seeking investigation.
The theme Skàtne Entewathahìta, We Will Walk Together 2023 event is ‘Pathways from Awareness to Action: What is Our Role?’ We believe that developing a more complete knowledge of McGill’s institutional history is our first responsibility. Learning the truth about the violent acts and oppressive values that have plagued higher education is an important foundational step in the process of interrupting colonialism.
Be curious. Be critical. Do your own research. Explore the stories told by Indigenous peoples. Build awareness of the lived experiences of Indigenous community members, staff, students, and collaborators. A powerful personal land acknowledgement is seeking out truth and carrying it with you as you walk, work and study on campus.
Access the virtual Critical Campus Tour HERE:
JAMES MCGILL MONUMENT
1025 Pine Ave
McGill University was named after a man who had enslaved at least five Black and Indigenous peoples: Jack or Jacques, a Black man (c1760-1838); Sarah, a Black woman (c1763-1809); MarieLouise, a Black woman who had joined the household as a girl (c1765-1789); an Indigenous boy whose name is unknown (c1768-1778); Marie Potamiane, an Indigenous girl (c1773-1783).
James McGill's participation in colonial practices and the transatlantic slave trade helped to establish this institution located on traditional Kanien’kehá:ka land. His bequest of £10,000 led to McGill’s founding; wealth which is inherently tied to the colonial economic system. In the mid1800s, amidst a financial crisis, the pre-Confederation government loaned money to McGill to prevent the institution's closure. The government funded the loan with money taken from the Six Nations’ Trust Funds, of which the government was the fiduciary trustee. The transfer of money was made without the permission of the communities of the Six Nations, and while McGill paid back this loan, the government never reimbursed the Six Nations’ Trust Funds.
McGill’s website states: “The University acknowledges the deep, long-lasting adverse impacts that these practices have exerted on Black and Indigenous communities.” The ongoing impacts of these realities continue to affect Black and Indigenous communities throughout this institution today.
Bicentenary Recommendations: https://blackmaplemagazine.com/wpcontent/uploads/2022/09/bicentenary-recommendations.pdf
Allyship: https://www.mcgill.ca/definetheline/files/definetheline/genderbased_and_sexual_violence_allyship_on_social_media_impacts_2022.pdf
HAUDENESAUNEE VILLAGE Corner Of Sherbrooke and Peel
Between 2016 and 2019, archaeological excavations carried out in the Peel Street sector brought to light the remains of village life associated with the St. Lawrence First Peoples. A series of radiocarbon studies indicate that the site was, in all likelihood, occupied between the years 1300 and 1400.
The village was very large with at least 50 longhouses and an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 people. Archaeologists had hoped that what was uncovered was Hochelaga village, but it seems to be too old to be possible.
Recent discoveries include more than 2,000 potsherds, almost a hundred fragments of ceramic pipes, and a variety of food remnants, including animal bones and charred seeds. Given the importance of these archaeological discoveries, it was decided to showcase First Nations history in Rue Peel’s redesign. Carried out in collaboration with the Kahnawà:ke community, this initiative is consistent with the Montréal Strategy for Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2020. The first design feature that highlights the discoveries are the cast iron tree grates installed all along the street. Openings in the tree grates reference a pattern found on the Iroquoian potsherds. In addition to showcasing the results of the archaeological digs, they have become an emblem for Rue Peel.
An expansion of this work saw the launch of Tsi niion kwarihò:ten (Our Ways : Peel Trail) which extends along the length of Rue Peel, from Rue Smith in the south, to Mount Royal Park in the north. Accompanied by an audio guide available on the app Portrait Sonore, “Our ways: Peel Trail” honours the presence of Iroquoian peoples on the island of Montréal. Bronze sculptures line the trail along Rue Peel.
HOCHELAGA ROCK
Roddick Gates,, 15a Sherbrooke St W
Hochelaga Rock is the informal name for this commemorative stone set on the lower field of McGill University’s downtown campus. The stone itself dates back to the 1920s, and has embedded into it a plaque that claims; “Near here was the site of the fortified town of Hochelaga listed by Jacques Cartier, in 1535, abandoned before 1600. It contained 50 large houses, each lodging several families, who subsisted by cultivation and fishing.”
Back in 1859, land was being excavated close to the intersection of Metcalfe and de Maisonneuve. The uncovering of human and animal remains, as well as other artifacts, led John William Dawson, McGill’s principal and leading geologists, to believe they had uncovered Hochelaga. Jacques Cartier had written about Hochelaga, a sixteenth-century thriving agricultural community that he had visited in 1535 but by 1541 could not find any trace of the settlement.
Subsequent research suggests quite strongly that, whatever the site was, it was too small and too old to have been Hochelaga. There has been much debate and disagreement amongst historians about the site, yet Parks Canada unveiled the Hochelaga Rock in 1925 on the lower field of McGill Campus, a move associated with the popularisation of monuments and memorials after the First World War.
Fast forward to 2017, advocacy by Indigenous Professor, Michael Loft proved successful in having the monument relocated to a more visible location near the Roddick Gates, directly across from a statue of James McGill which has since been removed due to continued acts of vandalism. The move of the Hochelaga Rock also gave McGill a lot of visibility in the press. Alongside the relocation of the 12,000 lb rock, the Provost Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education was announced in 2017.
Today, the Hochelaga Rock prompts a lot of thought around Tiohtià:ke (Montréal), what nations and ways of life existed here pre-colonialsim. What happened to settlements following visits from explorers? How do accounts from these explorers compare to the findings of settler archaeologists and Indigenous historians? The Rock also allows us to analyse what it means to commemorate through monuments as well as who and what these monuments primarily serve. What place does commemoration and symbolism have in the process of reconciliation?
SELECTED EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS: https://www.mcgill.ca/dise/ofnie/indigenous-education-resources-teaching
WALKING ALONGSIDE VIDEOS: https://youtu.be/9SgKSVbnrJ0?si=-6HatHh7XUomIZ-o
INDIGENOUS EDUCATION RESOURCES :
https://deptkb.mcgill.ca/display/TLK/Indigenous+Education+Resources
ALTERNATIVE CAMPUS TOUR @ YORK UNIVERSITY:
https://alternativecampustour.info.yorku.ca/
DECOLONIZING, INDIGENIZING, AND MAKING SPACE FOR INDIGENOUS GIRLS VISITING YORK UNIVERSITY
Sarah Flicker, Amanda Galusha, L. Anders Sandberg, Jennifer Altenberg and The Young Indigenous Women's Utopia in Girlhood Studies (2023)
https://euc.yorku.ca/research-spotlight/decolonizing-indigenizing-and-making-space-forindigenous-girls-visiting-york-university/
A WORD OF THANKS:
The Critical Campus Tour was originally developed by the Participatory Cultures Lab in the spring of 2023 for the More Than Words project youth retreat. Indigenous students and graduates have developed and delivered several different versions of the CCT over the past months – adapting and discovering more about the process with each participating group. Special thanks are extended to Emilee Bews, Margaret MacKenzie and Samantha Nepton for the work and generosity they invested in the CCT and other project initiatives. Through the work of these students and project coordinator, Leann Brown, the CCT will continue to grow and evolve.
For More information, please contact Leann Brown at leann.brown@mcgill.ca
