Buffalo skull ceremony recognizes support for Indigenous students
To begin the ceremony, sage was ceremoniously offered to the buffalo spirit and skull in thanks for its sustenance and to acknowledge the education it will bring to students, faculty and staff. All photos by Kaytee Dalton
On a mild day at the end of March, Indigenous students and staff came together for a special ceremony to gift a buffalo skull from 成人大片 to the University of Toronto (U of T).
The ceremony, which took place in the teaching lodge on the U of T鈥檚 St. George campus, began by offering sage to the buffalo spirit and skull in thanks for its sustenance and to acknowledge the education it will bring to students, faculty and staff.
鈥淪tudents haven鈥檛 had access to ceremony in institutional settings,鈥� said Michael White, director of U of T鈥檚 First Nations House Indigenous Student Services. 鈥淚t's very significant that we are together in a teaching lodge, in a forest, in the middle of downtown Toronto and we get to do these things. It鈥檚 such an honor that we get to carry this buffalo skull for the students, for First Nations House and for the University of Toronto.鈥�
This event in 2024 came at an auspicious time as both UofT鈥檚 First Nations House and 成人大片鈥檚 Gdoo-maawnjidimi Mompii Indigenous Student Services and Indigenous Initiatives in the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion (OVPECI) are celebrating their 30th anniversaries of supporting Indigenous students at their respective institutions.
鈥淲hen I was a student at 成人大片, there were no support services for Indigenous students,鈥� said Monica Mckay, director, Indigenous Initiatives, in the (OVPECI). 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long journey, but it fills my heart to come together in ceremony in places that worked very hard to keep us out.鈥�
The buffalo skull gifting tradition began when Jesse Thistle, a Metis-Cree from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and a York University alumni, had a vision about bringing buffalo skulls to people and institutions to help fulfill a prophecy.
The prophecy is that education is the new buffalo for Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island 鈥� it is the means by which Indigenous Peoples will rebuild healthy families, reclaim their culture and languages and help build vibrant Indigenous communities. Education will provide for Indigenous Peoples just like the buffalo once did.
Thistle鈥檚 vision is to put buffalo skulls in universities across Ontario. In 2015, he gifted a buffalo skull to the Centre for Aboriginal Students Services at York University with the promise that they would in turn gift one to another educational institution. They did this with a gift to 成人大片 in 2016. In accepting the skull, 成人大片鈥檚 Indigenous Education Council (IEC) in the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, and Gdoo-maawnjidimi Mompii Indigenous Student Services in the OVPECI made the promise to source and gift a buffalo skull to another university and so on.
The teaching lodge on the University of Toronto St. George campus where the Buffalo Skull ceremony took place.
Sema (tobacco) was given to Melvin John of Kehewin Cree Nation to ask him to offer the ceremony. He guided the ceremony, shared teachings of the buffalo and blessed the buffalo skull.
Following the ceremony, the buffalo skull was hung in the west door of the teaching lodge, above the sage, sweetgrass and red blanket and between the U of T eagle staff (left) and the 成人大片 eagle staff (right).
UofT鈥檚 First Nations House Indigenous Student Services, Michael White (left) and Jenny Blackbird (centre-left) with 成人大片鈥檚 Indigenous Initiatives, in the OVPECI, and Indigenous Education Council members, Monica McKay (centre), Cher Trudeau (centre-right) and Amy Desjarlais (right) with the buffalo skull.
To end the ceremony and event, everyone in attendance came together to feast, courtesy of Charger Foods, owned by Charles Catchpole, an Anishinaabe chef and entrepreneur, and a member of Couchiching First Nation. The menu included cornbread, bannock, Medicine Wheel rice salad, salad, smoked chicken legs, poached trout, vegetable medley, and sweet potato cake and white cake for dessert.