Indigenous students at Bishop's University have been asking for a designated space on campus for years.

Now, the school is going to transform one of the oldest buildings on campus — Divinity House — into a gathering space and resource centre for these students.

Quebec's Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge has pledged $5.9 million to renovate 127-year-old Divinity House, which has been vacant and at risk of demolition since 2014 due to structural problems.

Roberge said the project gives the university the chance to save the historic building while re-purposing it as a home away from home for students.

"It's important for us to preserve our heritage, but we can give a new mission to this heritage. Now it will be a place to come together," he said.

"It's a great opportunity for Indigenous students like us to gather and be proud of who we are just to share our culture and really be proud," said Shawna Chatterton-Jerome, a student at Bishop's from Gasgapegiag.

Chatterton-Jerome is the co-leader of the Bishop's Indigenous Cultural Alliance, along with fellow student Alicia Moore-Iseroff.

Home away from home

The renovated Divinity House building will have an accessible entrance, designated gathering spaces and a fire pit.

Chatterton-Jerome said the new space will be a place for Indigenous students to feel at home, even if they have to travel long distances from their communities to study at Bishop's.

From left, Quebec education minister Jean-François Roberge, chief of the Abenaki Council of Odenak Richard O'Bomsawin, MNA Geneviève Hébert, vice-chancellor of Bishop's University, Michael Goldbloom, Indigenous student support and community liaison, Melissa Poirier, and Indigenous students at Bishop's University Shawna Chatterton-Jerome and Alicia Moore-Iseroff. (Spencer Van Dyk/CBC)

"Things like this will help," she said, adding that her cousin has been attending Champlain College in Lennoxville and feeling particularly homesick. "I can't wait to see the project done."

Principle and vice-chancellor at Bishop's University, Michael Goldbloom, saidthat demolishing Divinity House would have been an "incalculable loss."

He said the administration has been working for years to make Indigenous students feel welcome at the school.

Goldbloom said having grown up with a very limited understanding of Indigenous history — coupled with the recent reports by the Viens Commission and the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls — reinforced his motivation to work toward reconciliation with various Bishop's University programs.

A project for future generations

Although Chatterton-Jerome and Moore-Iseroff likely won't get the chance to spend much time at the resource centre before they graduate, they're excited for it to welcome future students.

"It's hard to relate to other students because we don't have the same backgrounds and culture, but seeing the gathering space — especially all the art that's going to be there — it's going to make us feel more at home," she said.

Provincial funding will cover about 85 per cent of the total project cost, and Goldbloom said the Bishop's University administration is committed to raising the additional $1 million that is needed.

Roberge said the project will be completed in 2021, and that Quebecers can expect more projects like this to get government backing in the next few years.