‘Giving something back’: Site for $8M Indigenous gathering space dedicated at Lambton College

Lambton College president Rob Kardas spoke carefully during Wednesday’s dedication of an $8-million Indigenous gathering space to be built in a clearing near the south end of the Sarnia campus.

“It’s important to me that people see this not as Lambton College’s Indigenous outdoor space, but the Indigenous outdoor space at Lambton College,” he said.

“This is for our Indigenous learners, our First Nations communities and, of course, we hope, non-Indigenous people will come here to learn the culture and the history as they maybe strive toward allyship.”

About $2.6 million in funding for the project is already in place, Kardas said. The college launched a five-year, $45-million capital campaign Tuesday for several projects, including the Indigenous gathering space.

The dedication on Wednesday — National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada — included a First Nation drum circle, dancers, a fire and “gentle” turning of ground for the project, followed by the opportunity for those attending to place ceremonial tobacco at the site.

Construction should begin in August and is expected to take about one year to complete, Kardas said.

“It has been about nine years in the making,” and was first raised by the college’s Indigenous education council, made up of Indigenous individuals in the region, said Jane Manning, the college’s manager of indigenous education. “We’re just so thankful the college recognized the significance of giving something back, the best they can, for what was taken away.”

Discussions and planning have continued since. Suncor Energy Foundation made an early donation of $600,000.

The design was led by Wanda Dalla Costa, the first Indigenous woman to become an architect in Canada. She was also lead design architect for an Indigenous learning space at education faculty at London’s Western University.

The space has been designed for both First Nations communities and Indigenous students, “to be used a gathering space for themselves with other indigenous students, but also if they want to learn about their culture, Manning said. It also will be a place where students can connect with visiting elders.

The space will be enclosed and have radiant heating and an area for a fire, so it can be used year-round, Manning said.

The college now has eight Indigenous elective courses and approximately 200 to 250 indigenous students a year, Manning said.

Kardas said the project’s Indigenous steering committee spoke early on “about this being a site for reconciliation.”

In the light of the impact of residential schools, “this, for Lambton College, is transformational,” he said.

“We are here today, in part, because of Lambton College’s institutional responsibility to give back what was taken from Indigenous learners, families and communities under the guise of education,” he said.

The trauma from that is still being felt, including by the college’s Indigenous students, Kardas said.

“Many Indigenous learners thrive here,” he said. “But as an institution, we have a responsibility to do better.”

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