Sault creates designated smudging areas, including boardroom

Sault College has announced the creation of designated areas throughout its campus where Indigenous students can freely hold smudging ceremonies without needing to submit a request to the school’s administration. Among the designated areas is the college’s boardroom, where elders Ted Recollet and Barbara Nolan performed a smudging ceremony at the school’s most recent board of governors meeting. Sault Vice President, Corporate and Student Services Janice Beatty says that signs will be placed at every designated smudging area so that individuals with allergies and other unpleasant reactions to smoke may be aware that smudging might occur. The college’s Director of Native Education and Academic Upgrading, Carolyn Hepburn, adds, “I just want to thank the college for moving in this direction, smudging within postsecondary institutions has been quite a hot topic provincially, it does come with its challenges but I think this is a really great move in the right direction for us.” Soo Today