A new building devoted to aboriginal students at the University of Saskatchewan has officially opened its doors.
Hundreds gathered on campus Wednesday for the grand opening of the Gordon Oakes Red Bear Student Centre, which has been in the works for about a decade.
“We’re showcasing the history of this land, we’re showcasing the people who have been here for generations and we’re also giving hope to those generations to come where they are going to see themselves in these academies,” Jack Saddleback, president of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union and member of the Samson Cree Nation, said in a media release.
“They are going to see themselves in universities and they are going to feel that much more confident in coming here compared to years before."
Wednesday’s grand opening included a pipe ceremony, a performance by Juno award-winning musician Susan Aglukark and several speeches.
University president Peter Stoicheff said the building, which will be open to all students and house the Aboriginal Students’ Centre, is part of a growing movement across Canada to improve relations between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.
“We must act on the educational disparities that exist in our society, and the activity that goes on as a part of the life of this centre will be one of our main ways of doing this,” he said in the release.
The building is named after Gordon Oakes Red Bear, a former chief of the Nekaneet First Nation and former Wanuskewin Heritage Park board member who pursued Treaty Land Entitlement and created the Treaty 4 flag.
He died in 2002.
Members of Oakes’ family were on hand for the opening alongside Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde.
