News release: Saint Mary’s Looks to Future with New Brand Story

Saint Mary’s University, one of Canada’s top primarily undergraduate universities, is launching a new brand platform that embodies the institution, known for its connected campus, international collaborations, leadership in entrepreneurship, and research that benefits local and global communities.   

“It is time for Saint Mary’s University to assert our place boldly among the top Canadian universities and proclaim our advantages at home and around the globe,” says Saint Mary’s University President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray. “This is the brand for our university and for our times. Saint Mary’s University offers a bright, ambitious vision for the future.”  

President Summerby-Murray shared the new brand with the university community today in a virtual launch celebration. More virtual events and a social media campaign are planned to reach the university’s 53,000 alumni worldwide. The new brand platform results from months of qualitative and quantitative research and extensive consultation with a diverse group of more than 3,000 faculty, staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders.   

The new treatment includes a logo, wordmark and tagline, ‘World Without Limits.’  
 
“‘World Without Limits’ is a wonderful distillation of who we are and what Saint Mary’s strives for every day. It is about investment in people, about economies, international relations and social prosperity, changes in science, technology, environment and business. It is also about acknowledging and tackling the very real limitations placed on diverse and marginalized cultures and peoples and addressing the mental health issues that many grapple with every day. It is about Saint Mary’s bold vision and our commitment to our university community, for Halifax and for Nova Scotia,” says President Summerby-Murray. 

 “More than an updated look and feel, our new brand platform is a powerful way of telling the Saint Mary’s story,” says Erin Sargeant Greenwood, Vice-President, Advancement. “Saint Mary’s offers a unique experience. We are a caring community, more typically associated with smaller universities, combined with the research and student engagement opportunities of the largest institutions. We are moving the university forward in a way that reflects our traditions and values and embraces our bright future.”   

The impact of Saint Mary’s University has grown significantly over the past decade. The university has seen an expansion in research depth and breadth in addition to increases in externally funded research. The university embraces global partnerships and celebrates its growing number of academic all-Canadian varsity athletes. The university boasts unique professional and graduate programs and has gained new accreditation for the Sobey School of Business. Saint Mary’s is a university on the rise, as marked by the climb to fourth in Maclean’s Primarily Undergraduate University national rankings. 

More information about the Saint Mary’s University branding initiative and the new brand video may be found at smu.ca.  

About Saint Mary’s University  

Saint Mary’s University is one of Canada’s top primarily undergraduate universities—known for its international collaborations, engaging student experience, leadership in entrepreneurship, and research that benefits local and global communities. Our programs in Arts, Science, Graduate Studies and the Sobey School of Business are among Canada’s best and feature professors who are committed to the success of their students. Saint Mary’s provides our 7,000 students with a place that fosters possibility, excellent research opportunities, and distinguished graduate and professional programs combined with a caring community. Nestled in the heart of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Canada’s east coast, Saint Mary’s University is marked by iconic buildings, green spaces and fresh ocean air. The Saint Mary’s University community is committed to a prosperous future for the world—a world without limits. 

Flags Lowered by Saint Mary's University

To honour the memory of the 215 children whose bodies have been found at the former Kamloops residential school in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory, Saint Mary’s has lowered flags to half staff. Flags will remain lowered as a mark of respect for 215 hours as a reminder not only of these lives lost but to honour all those whose lives were lost or changed forever by the tragedies of the residential schools, including here in Nova Scotia. We must all continue to educate ourselves about this shameful aspect of our past and acknowledge the impact on Indigenous peoples. The last residential school in Canada closed as recently as 1996.

Study shows long-lasting impacts to lake health from old gold mines

Water on the tailing fields of the historical Montague Gold District transports contaminated materials towards Mitchell Brook, which flows into Barry's Run, and then into Lake Charles. Wind is also a mechanism of tailings transport. Credit: Linda Campbell

New findings of a multi-university team of researchers show that pollution from historical gold mining in Nova Scotia, Canada, persists at levels that impact the health of aquatic ecosystems, despite mine operations closing nearly a century ago.

“Mining activities from 100 years ago can still impact freshwater ecosystems today. Our work reveals that lakes may show signs of recovery from those impacts,” notes Saint Mary’s University Professor and co-author Dr. Linda Campbell. “Even so, we must remain vigilant about understanding and monitoring the legacy of those contaminated tailings in our modern ecosystems to support recovery processes.”

Over 350 gold mines operated throughout Nova Scotia between the mid-1800s and 1950. Urbanization and land development has taken place nearby some historical mining areas and people sometimes use these areas for recreational activities. Waste tailing materials with elevated and potentially toxic levels of arsenic and mercury often are associated with historical gold mining sites in Nova Scotia. The tailings can contaminate soil and aquatic sediments through water and wind movement.

This study used dated sediments from the bottom of two urban lakes located near one of the region’s largest historical mining operations. Lake sediments are a well-recognized and information-rich natural archive of past environments which allow the assessment of geochemical and biological conditions of lakes and their watersheds before, during, and after pollution has occurred.  

The study was recently published in the peer-reviewed international journal Science of the Total Environment and highlights how pollution from past gold mining combined with contemporary stressors such as climate change and urbanization may contribute to prevent complete lake recovery from century-old mining pollution.

“Past mining activities that occurred throughout Nova Scotia introduced considerable amounts of arsenic and mercury into the environment,” says lead author Allison Clark, from Mount Allison University. “Although the Montague Gold District closed to mining 80 years ago, lakes nearby still remain severely impacted.”

Currently, arsenic levels are still very high in the lake sediments—300 times above levels that are known to harm aquatic organisms. Mercury has returned to levels observed before gold mining began. This suggests that arsenic is behaving differently than mercury within the sediments at the bottom of tailing-impacted lakes.

“Mining is both a blessing and a curse,” notes Mount Allison University Associate Professor and co-author Dr. Joshua Kurek. “Society benefits but past mining activities practiced throughout Nova Scotia continue to harm ecosystems and citizens are now left with the clean-up costs.”

Additionally, invertebrates that live on and interact with the lake’s sediment have become less diverse compared with a similar reference lake, likely due to the mining pollution as well as other recent watershed stressors. Loss of key organisms may affect lake food webs, leading to issues with water quality.

Funding for this research was provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Genome Atlantic.

SMU Research Partnership Rewriting History of Pre-Contact North American Copper Trade

Cape d’Or and the surrounding areas are where much of the copper examined for this research originated. (Photo - Communications Nova Scotia)

A Saint Mary's University research partnership with the Nova Scotia Museum has uncovered evidence that may rewrite North American understanding of the pre-contact trade of copper across the continent.

The lead Saint Mary's researcher on this project, Dr. Jacob Hanley, is a geologist who studies ore deposits and is a member of Algonquins of Greater Golden Lake First Nation in Ontario, Canada. After an exciting discussion with a colleague regarding prehistory in Atlantic Canada, Dr. Hanley began to take an interest in where the Indigenous people of Atlantic Canada sourced their pre-contact metals.

"One of the most important metals to the Indigenous population of North America was copper. It was an essential material for toolmaking and working that also held a spiritual significance," says Hanley. "The prevailing understanding of copper in North America during the Late Archaic Period to Early Woodland Period, that is to say, is 4,500 years ago to 500 A.D, is that the copper originated from deposits from Lake Superior, the Lake Superior Basin, and Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. Our findings strongly suggest this is not the case and that a site in the Bay of Fundy played a much bigger role in history."

The lead Nova Scotia Museum researcher is Dr. Katie Cottreau-Robins, Curator of Archaeology. Additional project collaborators include Roger Lewis, Curator of Mi'kmaq Cultural Heritage, Nova Scotia Museum, and the New Brunswick Archaeological Services Branch. The project itself would not have been possible without the permission and participation of the Metepenagiag First Nation and Mainland Mi’kmaq Grand Council members who allowed the team to examine significant cultural artifacts.

"This copper comes from Cape d'Or, located in the Bay of Fundy, a place of extreme significance in terms of the history of Mi'kma'ki," says Lewis. "To get to these outcrops, you can only approach from the water or climb down the cliffs. We hope to support more research to examine whether the act of gathering the copper itself may have had an additional cultural significance due to the danger and the level of skill required to gather it successfully."

Unlike traditional methods of analyzing artifacts, the team uses a new method usually reserved for finding ore deposits for mining purposes. This new to archeology method is non-invasive and more accurately reads the chemical make-up of the copper while leaving the artifacts completely intact.

"Our data suggests that Cape d'Or and the Bay of Fundy was the main source of copper for the Mi'kmaq people and beyond," says Cottreau-Robins. "All the artifacts we have examined, and initially described as having come from the Lake Superior region, actually originated in the Bay of Fundy. This suggests that much of the copper artifact collection in the northeastern region, believed to have come from the Lake Superior area, may have an Atlantic origin. The implications of this are huge, as it means reshaping our understanding of pre-contact trade across Atlantic Canada, Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States and re-examining the role copper played cultural in the history of Atlantic Canada's Indigenous peoples."

This project recognizes the importance of the artifacts they are working with to the Metepenagiag First Nation and have ensured that they are analyzed in New Brunswick, so they remain in their province of origin and can be returned swiftly.

"Saint Mary's University takes pride in doing world-class research that creates new knowledge and disseminates it to the world," says Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice-President, Academic and Research. "The work of Dr. Jacob Hanley and his team is an exemplar of this commitment and takes community-based research collaboration to a new level. We are proud to be a part of this collaboration across provinces and with the Metepenagiag First Nation."

Hanley and Cottreau-Robins have written about their research findings in a chapter of the upcoming anthology Far Northeast 3000BP to Contact, which can be found here.

Saint Mary’s University hosts The Hockey Conference featuring Hockey Hall of Fame member Angela James

Over sixty presenters and guest speakers from across North America and Europe are expected to meet virtually to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Hockey Conference, an academic conference on ice hockey that was founded at Saint Mary’s University twenty years ago. Hosted by the Saint Mary’s University Centre for the Study of Sport & Health, the theme for this year’s conference is hockey in a changing world. 

The conference, happening online June 4-6, will feature keynote speaker Angela James, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and a trailblazer for women’s hockey and Black hockey players in Canada. Other guest speakers include Kaleb Dahlgren, who survived the Humboldt Broncos bus crash; Kurtis Gabriel, an athlete in the National Hockey League; Jessica Platt, the first transgender woman to play professional hockey; Kieran Block, the first Black parahockey athlete on the Canadian National Paralympic team, and Rhonda Taylor, the first woman to sit on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (which eventually became part of Hockey Canada).

“We had to postpone by a year as a result of the pandemic and move it online, but I think we’ve still managed to come up with a solid event despite the setbacks,” says conference organizer Dr. Cheryl MacDonald, who is also the Associate Director of Outreach at the Centre for the Study of Sport & Health. “My main goal was to celebrate Dr. Colin Howell, who founded the conference in 2001 and just retired after 50 years at Saint Mary’s, so I’m glad we can still make that happen for him.” Dr. Howell will be giving the inaugural Dr. Colin Howell Distinguished Lecture at the conference as part of the celebrations.

Local guest speakers will include Ryan Francis, a member of Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw community, Nicole Durand of the parahockey community, Serge LeBlanc of the Acadian community, and Savannah Newton from Hockey Nova Scotia’s female high-performance program. SMU men’s hockey alumni Bob Dawson, a member of the first all-Black line in Canadian university ice hockey, will also be speaking briefly about Black hockey in the Maritimes as he introduces Angela James’ keynote speech.

The Hockey Conference is an interdisciplinary event held every two years in a different city. It brings together scholars and community members and facilitates a range of analyses and discussions on the sport in its many forms. Presenters have come from diverse fields such as history, economics, sociology, human kinetics, and business. Notable guest speakers have included Jean Beliveau, Hazel McCallion, Ken Dryden, Jenn Botterill, Billy Bridges, and Ted Nolan.

The conference is free for observers, and all are welcome. Registration is required on the conference website at www.thehockeyconference.ca.

Media statement on residence self-isolation

Out of an abundance of caution, residents of Rice Residence are required to self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test result. This comes as a result of two confirmed, but unrelated, cases of COVID-19 in Rice Residence. Any residents of Loyola Residence who may have spent any extended time in Rice from April 26-May 3 are also being asked to self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test result.

This decision was made out of an abundance of caution by Public Health. Public Health has not informed the university of any violation of public health measures. Those required to self-isolate are doing so per provincial COVID-19 protocols. The university will continue to work with Public Health, and COVID-19 testing is available on campus.

Community Notice: New building project behind the Loyola Academic Complex and the Sobey School of Business

We have exciting news! At Saint Mary’s University, we are looking at ways to further develop our campus. We are beginning the process of adding a new building behind the Loyola Academic Complex and the Sobey School of Business. The building will be the same height as the Sobey Building, standing four storeys tall. Our first steps are to remove the 5907 Gorsebrook Avenue house, with demolition beginning in May 2021. We are expecting our students to enter this new building in the Fall of 2023.

What impacts will the construction have on traffic and parking?

Trucks will access the back parking lot via Robie Street for the demolition phase. For all other phases, trucks will have access via Robie Street and Tower Road.

What time will construction workers be on site?

Working with the noise bylaws in Halifax, construction will generally occur 7 a.m. - 4 p.m

Will there be any blasting of rock during construction?

There will be a small amount of rock breaking as this structure will not have a full basement.

Will there be any interruption in my power or water supply?

We will keep interruptions to a minimum, performing this type of work overnight when possible.

Have additional questions or concerns?

Margaret Murphy Associate Vice-President, External Affairs margaret.murphy@smu.ca | 902-229-2264

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Environmental History course nets OER award for Dr. Heather Green

Migration, Old Crow, YT; photo by Jon Luedee

We often associate environmental research with STEM, focusing on the science of human-environment relationships that have impacted climate and ecosystems. For Dr. Heather Green, environmental research encompasses not only the tangible evidence of climate change but also the histories of how environmental change has affected Indigenous and settler populations, wildlife, and the natural world.

The Council of Atlantic University Libraries (CAUL-CBUA) sees the broader potential for Green’s research and teaching, announcing April 15 that she is among the first five recipients of its AtlanticOER Development Grants. The new grants are intended to encourage educators in the region to create open educational resources (OER), and increase student access to course materials. 

An assistant professor in the Department of History at Saint Mary’s, Green applied for the grant in relation to her course HIST 2833: Environmental History of North America. Her winning project aims to raise awareness of Northern issues and experiences by incorporating them into her course curriculum and creating an online teaching module on environmental histories of borders in the North.

This work is part of her current research with the Northern Borders Project, developed in collaboration with two other historians: Dr.Jonathan Luedee, Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Toronto’s history department; and independent scholar Dr. Glenn Iceton, Williams Lake, B.C. (PhD University of Saskatchewan).

The project has been supported through web support by the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE), where she is an editor. The environmental humanities initiative is exploring “the dynamic socio-environmental contexts that have shaped the making of borders and boundaries throughout the circumpolar world from the nineteenth- century to the present,” says the project’s website.

A large portion of Green’s OER project is incorporating Indigenous and Inuit traditional knowledge and generational memory into course material and the public realm.

“Within the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a lot of controversy in the North around land claims, Indigenous sovereignty, certainly conflicts over resources, mining issues and of course climate change, so we are interested in examining the deep historical roots related to these issues. In keeping with our project goals, we want to ensure that this research is public,” says Green, adding this makes NiCHE an ideal home base for the project website.

“We wanted to approach an exploration of environmental and social contexts that have had a long history reaching into the present and look at how they have shaped the formation of borders in the northern region of North America,” Green explains.

On the flip side of that, she’s interested in understanding the role that borders themselves have played in the environmental crisis in the North today. Borders are more than geopolitical boundaries; they include racial and cultural boundaries, identity, gender, and the boundaries between Western knowledge production and Indigenous ways of knowing.

“Understanding ways in which knowledge is produced plays a crucial role in the lived experience of the North, because so much of northern residents’ lives have been shaped by southern influences from the nineteenth century onward,” says Green.

Further plans to boost accessibility to information about the Northern Borders Project include creating practical and applied mentorship and employment opportunities for students at Saint Mary’s.

“Our open, educational resource teaching module will consist of four different teaching units,” says Green. “These units will discuss broad conceptual themes, using different case studies in various forms of multimedia, including oral history, videos, photographs, and GIS (geographical information systems) mapping.” 

Through a SSHRC Summer Research Award, SMUworks and the OER funding, three students will work with Green during the summer months. They will help develop the teaching modules and conduct their own original research, which will be featured in the module units.

“This opportunity is exciting for students, as it will give them the skills training that is transferable outside of history,” says Green. “They will also have the chance to walk away from these work terms having completed their own original research and digital history project.”

Find out more about the Northern Borders Project and follow Dr. Green on Twitter at @heathergreen21. Her first book, The Great Upheaval: Gold Mining and Environmental Change in the Klondike, is forthcoming with the UBC Press Nature, History, Society series.  

Saint Mary’s University Researchers Take Part in CBC Earth Day Special

On Earth Day, Saint Mary’s University researcher Dr. Danika van Proosdij and honours student Makadunyiswe Ngulube took part in a special event hosted by CBC. They discussed climate change and, more specifically, the multi-million-dollar salt marsh restoration research project underway in the Chignecto area.

The project, Making Room for Wetlands: Implementation of Managed Realignment for Salt Marsh Restoration and Climate Change Adaptation in Nova Scotia, seeks to restore over 75 hectares of tidal wetland (i.e., salt marsh) habitat through the realignment and decommissioning of dyke infrastructure at multiple sites in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

This project includes a well-established partnership between Saint Mary’s University and CB Wetlands & Environmental Specialists (CBWES) Inc. using innovative and proven techniques with a comprehensive monitoring program.

Click here to read more on Saint Mary’s participation in CBC’s special Earth Day coverage. Or listen to the researchers on CBC’s Information Morning here (~32 minutes into the segment).

Additional reading

• Government of Canada partners with Saint Mary’s to create new coastal habitat and combat climate change

• National recognition for Saint Mary’s geographer

• SMU faculty participate as scientific experts at G7 Oceans Inspiration Expo