Art installation at First Nations University vandalized

Though not everyone knew what it was for, people driving around Ring Road south at night for the past several months could see an installation of teepees in front of the First Nations University of Canada lit up in different colours.

Over the weekend, the installation was vandalized.

Two of the teepees were cut — one with a large slash across a side as well as another smaller gash, and the other with a small cut.

“To see that something like that has happened to our campus, it’s saddening,” said Bonnie Rockthunder, a senior analyst with the FNUniv.

The teepees were put up in September as part of an installation for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. The teepees have stayed up since then.

Rockthunder said students were feeling down after seeing the damage.

“The teepees, they’ve been here for a year now — almost a year — and so it was a part of our every day driving up to the university or for the students coming to the university,” Rockthunder said. “For them to see that, some of them were quite saddened by it.”

Rockthunder said the teepees have the significance of having been a home and noted: “It’s just like somebody destroying a person’s home.”

But, she said, in accordance with their teachings, Rockthunder said those in the university community would be willing to forgive the person who vandalized the teepees.

The two damaged teepees had been taken down by Monday afternoon, and Rockthunder said they would be repaired. It isn’t clear yet how much that will cost.

Campus security is looking into the matter, and Rockthunder said a report had been made to the police.