Happy fall, it's dark outside!  Need some light? From 10 am - 2 pm on Monday, November 22nd, UPEI students can pop into the Robertson Library LINC to try a light therapy lamp for 15 minutes.  Make sure to sign up for your time slot in advance.  

Veterans' Week / Remembrance Day

Robertson Library will be closed on Remembrance Day, Saturday, November 11th.

November the 5th - 11th is Veterans’ Week, a week to remember & honour those who have served Canada in times of war, military conflict and peace.

November 8th is National Aboriginal Veterans Day, a day to commemorate the contributions of Indigenous veterans who fought shoulder to shoulder with Canadians in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War.

Every year on Remembrance Day, November 11th, Canadians pause in a minute of silence to remember the men and women who serve or have served our country.

Visit the display in the lobby of the Library for resources that cover topics on the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Canadian Armed Forces. Included in the display are materials on Indigenous Peoples who joined the Canadian Armed Forces and fought in foreign lands and books on women's contributions to Canada's military effort, including women from PEI.

Information on Veterans' Week and Remembrance Day is available on the Veterans Affairs Canada website.

Lest We Forget...

If you are a student looking for other spaces where you can participate in your online class, the Registrar's Office has prepared a list of rooms on campus and their availability during the Fall 2021 semester. These are not bookable rooms, but rooms that don't have classes running in them at the times specified.

If you are wondering where a building is on campus, view the Campus Map.

• Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre (YSC)
• Robertson Library
• SDU Main Building (SDMB)
• Kelley Memorial Building (KMB)
• Don and Marion MacDougall Hall (MCDH)
• Cass Science Hall (CSH)
• Duffy Science Centre (DSC)
• Sustainable Design Engineering Building (SSDE)
• Health Sciences Building (HSB)
• K.C. Irving Chemistry (ICC)
• Memorial Hall (MH)

October 1 is Treaty Day and the start of Mi’kmaq History Month.

Mi’kmaq Treaty Day commemorates the key role of treaties in the relationship between the Mi’kmaq nation and the Crown, and the continuing importance of these treaties for Canada.

“Treaty Day serves as an important symbolic event to both strengthen the relationship between the Mi’kmaq of PEI and the Crown and to educate the public about the Mi’kmaq Treaties, as well as Mi’kmaq History and Culture – all important steps on the path to reconciliation.” Darlene Bernard, Chief of Lennox Island First Nation on PEI.

For more information on Treaty Day, visit https://lnuey.ca/treatyday/.

October is Mi’kmaq History Month, a time to promote awareness of Mi’kmaq treaties, culture, history, and heritage.

UPEI has stated in our “UPEI Strategic Plan, 2018–2023” that "UPEI is committed to advancing reconciliation through higher education. As a community, we have started a journey of growth to realize the role we must play in promoting an understanding of Indigenous history and culture, and supporting respectful relationships. UPEI recognizes that discussions in this era of truth and reconciliation will unveil difficult facts within our country’s history. However, in keeping with our institutional vision, we know that education is vital to understanding the history of colonialism and the forward-looking process of reconciliation. Working together, we must use knowledge as a catalyst for meaningful change in communities here in Prince Edward Island and around our world."

Check out our display of books on Mi’kmaq history from our circulating book collection. Books in the display may be borrowed.

Because of the significant Mi’kmaq presence on Prince Edward Island (Epekwitk, often anglicized as “Abegweit”), many of our Library’s Mi’kmaq-related titles are housed in the PEI Collection (SPEC-PEI Location in the Library Catalogue): PEI Collection titles are available for consultation by anyone presenting photo ID, but can only be used within the Library.

Check out the Library’s Mi'kmaq - Research Guide for resources about the Mi'kmaq in Prince Edward Island and Atlantic Canada.

The 2021 Mi'kmaq History Month poster – Exploring Treaties and Treaty Relationships  - is available from the Mi'kmaq History Month website.

Robertson Library will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Monday, October 11th.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

On the occasion of the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the Robertson Library extends an open invitation to the campus and Island communities to visit, and reflect upon, the Aboriginal Survivors for Healing display in our main lobby, paying tribute to the Mi’kmaw children taken from their homes in Epekwitk to the “Indian” Residential School in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. A selection of books by and about First Nations’ peoples, and the ongoing work of reconciliation, accompanies this display.

In June 2013, the Library was honoured to accept this display, on behalf of the University, as a donation from Aboriginal Survivors for Healing, Inc. (ASH), an organization that worked with “Shubie School” survivors in Epekwitk for more than a decade through the early 2000s [click here to see The Guardian front-page story on the donation].  The display incorporates a number of elements, including images of students from Epekwitk at the Shubenacadie school, reproduced courtesy of the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island and Shubenacadie survivor Grace Tuplin. Also included is the text of the Government of Canada’s 2008 Statement of Apology for the great harms inflicted by the residential school system over more than a century of operation, from the 1870s through to the 1990s. In addition, survivor Charlotte Labobe-Morris of Lennox Island First Nation contributed a set of keys from the Shubenacadie school building, given to her by a former caretaker.

The most notable element of the display, however, is the underlying quilt, with squares stitched by 16 Shubenacadie survivors from Epekwitk, sharing memories of their residential school experience.

The survivors who contributed to the quilt were:

Katherine Archer                              Becky Julian

Christine Bernard                             Margaret Labobe

Doreen Bernard                                Charlotte Labobe-Morris

Mary Hatfield                                     Annette Lewis

Marcella Hiller                                   Janet MacDonald

Genevieve Johnson                          Pat Simonson

Jenny Rose Johnson                       Patricia Stephens

Lottie Johnson                                  Marlene Thomas

We acknowledge them, ASH, and all Epekwitk’s residential school survivors, for their beautiful and courageous contributions to the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation journey.

If you are a Survivor and need emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-866-925-4419.

Wela'lioq

On Thursday, September 30, UPEI will mark the first official National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, recently designated by the Government of Canada as a federal statutory holiday. This is a day for all Canadians to remember the tragic history and legacy of residential schools in our country and the intergenerational impacts they have had on First Nations and Indigenous Peoples.

The University, including the Library, will be closed for regular operations and there will be no classes on Thursday, September 30, 2021, in observance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 

September 30 is also Orange Shirt Day.

Background from orangeshirtday.org

Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake in the spring of 2013.  It grew out of Phyllis’s account of losing her shiny new orange shirt on her first day of school at the Mission, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually.  The date was chosen because children are back in school and teachers have time to plan, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the year.  Orange Shirt Day is also an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and community agencies to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.

Resources are available from the http://www.orangeshirtday.org site and the Library subscribes to a number of resources that you can integrate into your curriculum. 

Relevant links to educate and promote awareness:

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Residential Schools (National Film Board of Canada)

L'nuey

 A massive collection of historical ("primary source") documents from Adam Matthew.

Access AM Explorer now.

This extended free trial runs through December 10. Please email your comments to mbelvadi@upei.ca . We are especially interested to hear which classes you found this to be useful for.

The Library also has access to a few of these collections, but this free trial gives us access to all of them, over 100 collections.