Professor Lisa Taylor from Bishops University laid down a major challenge for Project of Heart participants from her Education program, and it arose from a observation made by Charlene Bearhead, Education Lead with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR):

“Charlene said she was astounded to visit Bishop’s, to spend a whole day here, without seeing anything to recognize Abenaki territory”, Taylor told POH.

In response to her challenge, education students reached out to the Abenaki community in Odanak. Students visited the beautiful Musee des Abenakis, met Mathieu Obomsawim the curator and invited the wonderful Abenaki Wendat artists Christine Sioui-Wawanoloath (http://iosazaso.wixsite.com/sioui-wawanoloath) to collaborate with them in creating a collective permanent art installation to honour the Abenaki nation and Wabanaki Confederacy, the traditional stewards and protectors of this territory on which we are privileged to study at Bishop’s University.

The students interviewed members of the campus community to gather thoughts on the practice of acknowledging Abenaki territory as it is just beginning to be embraced by Bishops.

The final slide has a link to an ongoing audio feature created as a space for the territorial acknowledgment to continue to live and grow, convoking and hosting conversations about what territorial acknowledgment means, what processes it’s only the first step in, what more it calls us to do.”

Thank you to Dr. Lisa Taylor for showcasing the wonderful progress your students are making in their reconciliation journey!