Mi’kmaw elder and school to rebuild vandalized wikuom, turn ‘negative’ into ‘positive’
Global News
Mi'kmaw elder Todd Labrador, who helped the school build the wikuom in 2019, is already working with the community on how to repair the structure.
A wikuom at a Nova Scotia school that was built with the help of a Mi’kmaw elder was vandalized over the weekend, after someone tore the bark off the structure.
The incident is being investigated as “hate-motivated” by RCMP, but the community is more focused on rebuilding.
The structure, located at Dr. John C, Wickwire Academy in Liverpool, N.S., was built in May 2019. Elder Todd Labrador guided students and staff on the project, which has been a source of pride and cultural significance.
“The area in which our Wikuom stands is very sacred ground and it has been used by many members of our school and larger community as a place to come, reflect, learn and acknowledge,” the school’s principal, Stacy Thorburn, wrote in a letter to the school that was posted on their Facebook page.
Labrador told Global News he felt really bad for the young students when he heard about the vandalism, especially since his grandchildren were instrumental in building the wikuom and were upset by the news.
“Unfortunately, the students that use it lost their cultural wikuom.”
Labrador was at the school on Tuesday — surveying the damage and making plans to repair the structure once the weather warms up.
He is a renowned birchbark canoe builder, and said that the bark has been difficult to source in the province lately due to disease.
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