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To recognize the significance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Mount Allison, in partnership with local Indigenous communities and the Town of Sackville, held a series of on campus and virtual events and activities this fall.

Events included welcoming Elder William Nevin to campus as this year’s first speaker in President’s Speakers Series, community members placing orange handprints on the campus tipi, and encouraging students, faculty, and staff to wear orange throughout the week.

Prayers for Our Lost Children by Mi’kmaw artist Loretta Gould was also unveiled in the Wallace McCain Student Centre. A poignant reminder of the impact of Canada’s Residential School Systems has had on Indigenous people and their families, the painting is also part of a series of public artworks on campus initiated by the Office of Indigenous Affairs and the Owens Art Gallery.

It includes two works by Mi’kmaw artist, Pauline Young: She Lights the Way (2019), a stained-glass memorial to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and Wabanaki/People of the Dawn (2020), a flag design representing the Mi'kmaw territory of Mi'kma'ki as a living relationship between land and sea.

While the University was closed on Sept. 30 for a day of reflection, Mount Allison participated in the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Light the Country Orange initiative, showing support by shining orange light on campus and University flags flew at half-staff for the week.