Dear Community,

Today, June 21, Acadia recognizes and celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day. On this day we place the history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis front and centre in our minds. It is a time for us to express our gratitude and our joy to live in a country with such a deep Indigenous heritage. It is a time to appreciate the richness that Indigenous People bring to Canada. Acadia is located on the traditional and unceded territory of Mi’kma’ki, and as Treaty People we share this great country with those who can trace their ancestry back thousands of years on this land.

At Acadia, we also believe in action and under our Acadia 2025 Strategic Plan we have made considerable progress, but recognise that there is still much more to do. I am very pleased to confirm that through the Cluster Hire initiative under the 16^th Collective Agreement between Acadia University and AUFA, over the summer we will welcome three new Indigenous professors to our campus into tenure-teach faculty positions. These appointments are meaningful steps to ensure that Acadia responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls for Action. Along with other soon to be announced new faculty hires, these appointments will add greatly to the diversity of our academic community and provide critically important role models for our students.

We will introduce our new colleagues in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I invite you spend some time reflecting on our relationship with Indigenous Peoples by visiting the Government of Canada's National Indigenous Peoples Day website or reviewing the information prepared by Parks Canada

We are all Treaty people.

Sincerely,

Dr. Peter Ricketts

President and Vice-Chancellor

Acadia University