INUIT In 2006, Algoma University signed a Covenant with the Shingwauk Education Trust, which commits both institutions to grow together, providing mutual support. Algoma University is proud to serve the Anishinaabe (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) people of the Algoma District and beyond, and the Covenant provides a firm foundation for future development of Anishinaabe education, both by Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig and by Algoma University. On June 18th, 2008, the Government of Ontario dissolved Algoma University College and created Algoma University, Ontario’s 19th university. Algoma’s special mission is: (a) to be a teaching-oriented university that provides programs in liberal arts and sciences and professional programs, primarily at the undergraduate level, with a particular focus on the needs of northern Ontario; and (b) to cultivate cross-cultural learning between Aboriginal communities and other communities, in keeping with the history of Algoma University and its geographic site. Algoma University is primarily a teaching university. The University’s first concern is meaningful, innovative and quality university education. Students at Algoma U find a broad choice of programs, covering the humanities, sciences, social sciences and professional areas such as Business. Faculty research supports teaching excellence, and student participation in basic and applied research is encouraged. THE LEGACY OF CHIEF SHINGWAUK The Shingwauk School, or “Teaching Wigwam”, was originally envisaged by the great Ojibway Chief Shingwaukonse (1773-1854) as a learning place for cross-cultural understanding and synthesis of traditional Anishinabek and modern European knowledge and learning. Commissioned in 1832 in co-operation with Canadian Government and Anglican Church partners as part of St. John’s Mission to the Ojibway, the Shingwauk School was opened in Sault Ste. Marie in 1833, relocated to Garden River (1838-74), and to the current site as the Shingwauk Industrial Home (1874-1935). It was renamed the Shingwauk Indian Residential School (1935-70). The legacy of Chief Shingwauk became warped by the federal government’s goal of assimilation and integration, as evidenced by the federal residential school policy. Still, it was the echoes of the original dream of cross-cultural understanding, aboriginal rights and self-determination that survived to reshape the mission and identity of Algoma University. THE SHINGWAUK PROJECT The Shingwauk Project is a cross-cultural research and educational development project of Algoma University and the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA). It was founded in 1979 by its current Director in collaboration with Dr. Lloyd Bannerman of AUC, Chief Ron Boissoneau (1935-2000) of Garden River, Shingwauk Alumnus and Elder Dr. Dan Pine Sr. (1900-1992) of Garden River, and others who recognized the profound importance
of the commitment to the Shingwauk Trust and the relationship with Canada’s First Nations that Algoma University assumed upon its relocation in 1971 to the site of the former Shingwauk Indian Residential School. Inspired by Shingwauk’s Vision, the Shingwauk Project and the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA – former students of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School, and staff, descendants, families and friends) are partnered with Algoma U, the Anglican Church, the Shingwauk Education Trust (SET), the Dan Pine Healing Lodge, and others to: research, collect, preserve and display the history of the Residential Schools; develop and deliver projects of “sharing, healing and learning” in relation to the impacts of the Schools, and of individual and community cultural restoration; and accomplish “the true realization of Chief Shingwauk’s Vision” through the establishment of Shingwauk University. continued on page 87