Undergrad Student, Aliqa Illauq, on a Changing Campus
For National Indigenous History Month, fourth-year undergraduate student Aliqa Illauq spoke about her experience being part of ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´’s changing campus. Being Indigenous on a university campus can feel foreign. But then something happens to make you feel like you belong and gives you hope.
Aliqa joined three classmates who campaigned to change the name of ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´’s Robertson Hall building. This spring, under the New Names for New Times initiative, ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ President Benoit-Antoine Bacon announced three buildings—Robertson Hall, the University Centre and Residence Commons—will be renamed to honour Inuit, Algonquin and Black communities, respectively.
While some instructors and colleagues could still benefit from listening to, and learning from, Indigenous people on campus, Aliqa is seeing change at ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, in students and instructors. It helps, she said, to have an ally at the top in President Bacon.