Mount Allison University’s Centre for Canadian Studies has been renamed to the Centre for Indigenous & Critical Canadian Studies through a strategic visioning process that reflects commitment to anti-colonialism, supporting the work of the Indigenous Studies program, and engaging with the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action.  

“The renaming provides an opportunity to articulate our commitment to ensuring Indigeneity and anti-colonialism remain a significant focus of our activities and initiatives,” says Acting Director of the Centre for Indigenous & Critical Canadian Studies Dr. Krista Johnston. 

Along with the renaming, Indigenous artwork has been incorporated into the Centre’s new logo — created by Mount Allison Fine Arts alumna Emma Hassencahl-Perley (‘17). Hassencahl-Perley is a Wolastoqey visual artist, arts writer, educator, and curator from Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. She is the curator of Indigenous art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, NB. 
 
The Indigenous artwork includes imagery of the Great Horned Owl, which Hassencahl-Perley explains is present in old Wabanaki stories and is one of the most common birds in New Brunswick year-round — symbolizing knowledge and wisdom.  
 
“Owls have truth-seeking abilities and the Centre’s focus is on society’s awareness and openness to other experiences, histories, and current realities in Canada,” says Hassencahl-Perley. 
 
Other symbols in the artwork include: 
    •    Wabanaki double-curves inside the wings of the bird to represent the territory 
    •    the maple leaf to reference the Canadian flag, but upside down to reflect a state of distress 
    •    the Wampum belt, depicting the union and solidarity between nations 
    •     the moon and stars representing feminine energy/balance, infinity, and ancestors/spirit world 
 
The Centre for Indigenous & Critical Canadian Studies is an arts and humanities based, endowment-funded, collaborative initiative at Mount Allison University. Its roots as a campus institution date back to the 1960s, with the establishment of the Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Chair in Canadian Studies. The Centre is a research and outreach initiative, supporting the research and teaching activities of faculty and students in the Indigenous studies and Canadian studies programs, while also collaborating beyond Mount Allison and building ties to communities and universities within and beyond Canada. The Centre annually hosts the Davidson and Stanley lectures, supports a two-year postdoctoral fellow, and provides funding for in-class and experiential events on campus.  

On Feb. 27, Dr. Amatoritsero Ede (English) presented the Davidson Lecture in Canadian Studies. Part of Black History Month events, his lecture titled “Black Canadian Literature: An Afropolitan Intervention” drew from his contribution to the recently released Routledge Handbook of Black Canadian Literature. 
 
Upcoming events: 
  
March 21, 4 p.m., Windsor Grand Room | Panel discussion on the book: Canada as a Settler Colony on the Question of Palestine. Published in 2023 by the University of Alberta Press, this book received the Canadian Studies Network prize for best edited collection in Canadian Studies in 2024. The panelists will be co-editors Dr. Jeremy Wildeman and Dr. M. Muhannad Ayyash, moderated by Dr. Veldon Coburn who wrote the introduction to the collection.  
  
March 25, 4 p.m., Windsor Grand Room | Dr. Courtney Mrazek (W.P. Bell Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Indigenous & Critical Canadian Studies) will deliver the Stanley Lecture. Her talk draws on her recent research and is titled “A Matter of Life and Breath: Tuberculosis Patient Demography in Provincial Maritime Sanatoria.”