As many in the nation gear up for Canada Day festivities, students at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie have decided against celebrating the 150th anniversary of the country’s confederation.

The Algoma University Students’ Union voted unanimously Thursday against sanctioning or endorsing events related to Canada 150.

Quinn Meawasige, an Indigenous Algoma student, led the campaign against participating in Canada 150 events.

“Those policies at the time of Confederation were designed to eliminate the Indigenous people,” Meawasige said Friday. “What it was founded on was broken treaties, and it was founded on, essentially, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, because they needed to make way for settlement . . . .

“I just don’t feel like celebrating that.

“Many people will be offended, and they might not understand the history. They don’t understand how it could be offensive for Indigenous peoples,” he said. “I don’t get that privilege, being an Indigenous person.”

The university’s Sault Ste. Marie campus used to be the site of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School, which operated until 1970. For Meawasige and acting university president Celia Ross, that makes the decision to not participate more important.

“The school has a very special responsibility with its commitments to reconciliation,” Meawasige said. “There’s children buried on site, on campus, as a result of the policies, and some of the policies that existed were the residential school policies.”

Ross said Algoma students are very aware of the site’s “mixed legacy” as both a residential school and now a university.

“What is the history of this site? What happened here?” Ross said. “So when we talk about celebrating, we have to be careful what we’re celebrating.”

Student union president Bushra Asghar declined to comment to the Star, but told SooToday.com the decision was taken out of solidarity with the school’s Indigenous students.

“We refuse to celebrate nationalistic attitudes in a space and location that has caused such an immense degree of violence for the Indigenous peoples of our communities,” Asghar said.

Ross said she is “very proud of the students” for their stance.

“Are we celebrating what happened here in the past? Our students would say, ‘no,’ ” Ross said in a phone interview Friday. “We need to reflect on it. We need to learn from it. We need to learn together.

“The students are not opposed to Canada . . . ; they just feel that, right now, it’s more appropriate for us to think about our history, think about how the past influences the present, and how we move forward into the future.”

“Canada 150 provides an opportunity for all Canadians to come together in our communities, to reflect on the road we have travelled so far, and to look for ways to build a strong, welcoming country, where everyone can thrive,” said Jon Schofield, a spokesman for the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.

“Canadians are invited to celebrate the Canada 150 in ways that matters to them,” he said.

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Universities Canada, an organization that has encouraged Canadian universities to participate in Canada 150 celebrations, said they are featuring events that focus on Indigenous issues and reconciliation.

“Over one-third of the 600 events and activities taking place on university campuses explore themes around reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people,” Helen Murphy, the organization’s spokeswoman, said, citing a social media campaign run which asked Canadians to “share their visions for Canada over the next 50 years.” She said, in an email, that “many of those taking part are sharing their hopes for reconciliation.”