Lakehead University teepee slashed at ceremonial grounds

The motivation behind the recent slashing of a teepee at Lakehead University’s ceremonial grounds is being questioned by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, the university’s vice-provost Aboriginal Initiatives.
“It is a very big disappointment and nobody expected that,” said Wesley-Esquimaux, a Chippewa of Georgina Island band member who signed on with the university this past July. “Of course, the question to me was, do you think it was racially motivated? All I can say to that is it’s a teepee. It’s one of those things that is very closely associated with the Native community, no matter where you are in Canada. But I would prefer to think otherwise.”
Thunder Bay Police are currently investigating the incident, noting a sharp object was used to cut a number of vertical slits on the backside of the teepee.
A Thunder Bay Police press release said it was unknown when the damage was inflicted, but anyone with information on the incident is asked to call police at 684-1200 or Crimestoppers at 623-8477 or to submit a web tip at www.tipsubmit.com.
Wesley-Esquimaux has also been subjected to three other disturbing incidents since taking on her new position at the university: the stoning of her car in August and two eggings of her home in September and July.
“About four weeks after we moved in the house was egged for the first time,” Wesley-Esquimaux said. “It was done at night because I remember we were reading and it was dark. We saw that in the morning and thought, well, OK, (it was) kids roaming around the neighbourhood.”
Wesley-Esquimaux and her husband, who live in a Thunder Bay suburb, cleaned up the mess the next day and forgot about the incident. But then her car was stoned about a month later, to the tune of about $1,500 in damages to the door.
“They threw a large rock at my car during a mid-afternoon,” Wesley-Esquimaux said.
“Steve washed the cars and they were sitting on the driveway. About one o’clock in the afternoon he went to the market, but when he came back around three there was a rock on the driveway.”
Wesley-Esquimaux’s first reaction to the incidents was disbelief.
“That’s never happened to me before, anywhere,” Wesley-Esquimaux said. “And I’ve lived in a lot of places.”
Wesley-Esquimaux ran for federal parliament in the York-Simcoe riding in southern Ontario for the Liberal Party of Canada during the last federal election, she was previously an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and is a former advisory member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
“There’s two questions: is this about racial divisions or social exclusion?” Wesley-Esquimaux said. “Or is it about kids who have too much time and not enough supervision?”
Wesley-Esquimaux feels it is important to be conciliatory during these types of incidents as opposed to being angry and just pushing people further apart.
“We need to do something to bring those people together, showing them we are not so different,” Wesley-Esquimaux said. “We want healthy children, we want education, we want our families to be well, we want the same things as other human beings.”
Wesley-Esquimaux said “a lot of people” in Thunder Bay are realizing a conversation needs to take place in the community.
“Here’s an opportunity for us to actually get involved and go beyond the norm and actually start to speak to each other about what we might do differently,” Wesley-Esquimaux said.
Wesley-Esquimaux said a Thunder Bay resident offered to donate a teepee to the university to replace the slashed teepee after hearing about the incident, but her staff are still planning to look into repairs for the slashed teepee.
“If it’s possible, then next spring we will hold a community feast and have all of Lakehead or all of Thunder Bay invited to come and actually paint the teepee so we have a coming together.”