Two First Nations artists have pulled their work from the University of Calgary’s gallery in a protest over a controversial event on campus last month.
The day before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a group set up a table on the University of Calgary campus, inviting students to debate whether residential schools were an act of genocide.
The event led to a demonstration and calls for the university to take action.
The event was put on by Canadian Students for Free Speech, a group launched this summer that advocates for open debate on campuses, with University of Calgary professor emeritus Tom Flanagan and Rebel News reporter Drea Humphrey there to invite debate.
Flanagan described it as a “Charlie Kirk format” debate, referencing the late American conservative political activist.
During the event, one student was caught on camera dumping water on Flanagan. Calgary police say that person was brought in for questioning, but was not charged.
The artists, seth cardinal dodginghorse (who only uses lowercase letters in their name) and their mother, Glenna Cardinal, collaborate as an artist duo called tīná gúyáńí, translating to Deer Road in Tsuut’ina.
Individually and together, the duo had seven pieces at the university’s Nickle Galleries.
They spoke at an artists’ talk on campus on Oct. 1, before they had learned about the Sept. 29 event.
“To have people use the topic of residential schools and use it as a way to debate — like we have family that went missing in these schools,” cardinal dodginghorse said.
“To have people debate that any type of genocide took place and occurred from these schools —it’s being wilfully ignorant.”
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In 2022, the House of Commons backed a motion recognizing Canada’s residential schools as genocide.
After learning of the event on campus, cardinal dodginghorse said the “weight of what had taken place both hit us,” and after a discussion, the two decided to remove their art.
In its place, they left a letter to the school and sage for smudging.
On the left, a silkscreen piece called Xigogu (yesterday) by the artist duo tīná gúyáńí. On the right, sage and a letter to the University of Calgary that the artists left after removing their artwork. (seth cardinal dodginghorse/Facebook)
“I didn’t feel safe. I didn’t feel our work was safe at the university, and I felt like we had to go get it and bring it home,” said Cardinal, who is also a U of C alumnus.
Response from the gallery was positive, cardinal dodginghorse said, as was response online, including from other artists.
In their letter to the school, the pair expressed their support for a demand that student protesters have made: to remove Flanagan’s professor emeritus title.
“Someone like that shouldn’t be celebrated in a school that is meant to inspire and also meant to educate others,” cardinal dodginghorse said.
In an interview with CBC News, Flanagan says discussions during the event were “calm and respectful on both sides” for about the first hour and a half.
“And then the mob showed up,” he said.
He’s filed a complaint with the university against two students: one who Flanagan says was shouting obscenities, and the one who threw the water. He says their actions went against the U of C’s free speech policy by disrupting the event.
As for the timing of the event, Flanagan says it was not his decision, but it’s not one he disagrees with.
“I personally don’t think that you should refrain from holding a legitimate discussion because it’s the day before, the day after or whatever. I think it’s a good time to try and attract attention to your discussion,” he said.
Flanagan said the suggestion of removing his professor emeritus title is “an outrageous demand.”
“It’s an academic rank and it’s part of the contract with the professors’ union. So the university can’t unilaterally remove that rank from me,” he said.
“I would imagine that the teachers’ union would come to my defence, and so the university would be provoking a legal battle with the union. So I don’t expect anything to happen there.”
In a statement on its website, the Democracy Fund, the registered charity that runs Canadian Students for Free Speech, defended the event.
“Universities exist for the purpose of testing contested ideas through argument and evidence. Whether residential schools meet the legal definition of genocide is a serious historical and legal question on which reasonable Canadians disagree, and it is precisely the kind of question a university should welcome,” the online statement said.
In a statement, the University of Calgary said it stands with the Indigenous community and is committed to truth and reconciliation.
The university does not endorse the views expressed by the organizers of the Sept. 29 event, the statement said, but is bound by regulation to permit free expression.
“As a university, we have a responsibility to permit lawful assembly and expression, including when the ideas being expressed are unwelcome, upsetting or objectionable to members of our community,” the statement said.
“Universities cannot become places where ideas are shielded from scrutiny. Engaging with challenging ideas and perspectives is fundamental to the role of a public university.”
The university says it will be reviewing its policies in light of recent events to ensure everyone on campus engages respectfully.
Holly Anghel was one of the students who approached the booth on campus to speak with the presenters.
The fourth-year U of C student and Métis artist was familiar with Flanagan’s writings. She went up to say she thought the booth was an attempt to “rage-bait” students.
She recorded the interaction and shared it online. She says she is happy that she spoke from the heart, but was caught off guard by the conversation.
“I feel like maybe I was a bit too polite, actually,” she said. “I feel like maybe I could have been a bit harsher with what I was trying to say, but I think actually that was what they were looking for.”
One of two pieces artist Holly Anghel has in the Nickle Galleries: a beadwork piece called Dad’s Garden. (Submitted by Holly Anghel)
She attended a protest on campus the week following the event.
Her artwork is also in Nickle Galleries. She considered pulling it, but ultimately decided against it.
“Because I think that the continued presence of my art in the space is vital for sending a message that I’m here at the university. I’m a student here,” she said.
“No matter what, we cannot and will not be pushed out or silenced.”
A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available at 1-866-925-4419 for emotional and crisis referral services for survivors and those affected.
Mental health counselling and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.
