When Asima Vezina learned the remains of 215 Indigenous children had been discovered in unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., it set in motion a chain of events at her own educational institution thousands of kilometres away.
As president and vice-chancellor of Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ms. Vezina decided the first step was to seek guidance from survivors in her community.
"We needed to come together, and we did, in ceremony and prayer," she recalls. This led to a joint statement from the university and several local Indigenous organizations: "Miigwetch [thank you] to those young Spirits for bringing themselves to our attention, they are telling us about the work we need to do," it began.
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