Good People is a bi-monthly column highlighting McGill students doing community-oriented work on and around campus. Because it’s important to celebrate good people doing good things.
Margaret MacKenzie is a 2024 McCall MacBain Scholar pursuing a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership at McGill University. She is a citizen of the Métis Nation, British Columbia and is the Indigenous Outreach Program advisor for Branches, McGill’s Community Outreach Program. Margaret worked alongside a team of Indigenous researchers at McGill to create the Critical Campus Tour: an evolving project that launched in 2023. The tour, facilitated by Indigenous students and graduates, visits select sites on McGill’s campus to critically engage with their history and significance. The Daily spoke with Mackenzie about the tour, the importance of community, and why knowledge should evolve rather than remain static.
This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Enid Kohler for the Daily (MD): How did the Critical Campus Tour come about?
Margaret Mackenzie (MM): It started with the Participatory Cultures Lab, which is in the Faculty of Education and is run by Dr. Claudia Mitchell. In 2023, I was an intern in her lab as part of the IMPRESS program (Indigenous Mentorship and Paid Research Experience for Summer Students) and my task was to formalize the tour, to add more spots on the tour, and then to digitize it. That September, we ran the tour for the first time in-person, at the We Will Walk Together Event. There were three tour groups, each about 15-20 people. Last year, the turnout in my group alone was huge – there were probably over 100 people.
MM: Based on the feedback from our 2024 tour, I have been working with other students to continue working on the tour and make it more concrete for the future.
MD: If you were pitching the Critical Campus Tour to an educator in a nutshell, how would you describe it?
MM: It’s to look at McGill’s campus in an anti- colonial and truth-seeking lens. It’s also about engaging with the sites and monuments at McGill that you walk by everyday, which actually have a deep history or meaning behind them that we don’t pay attention to or recognize. The tour is supposed to provide a basis for critical conversation, discussion, and reflection. The tour guide gives you some points to. consider and then you have what can be uncomfortable or challenging conversations. You need to show up to this tour ready and willing to do that.
MM: This tour is also about uplifting and shedding light on all the hard work that Indigenous staff and students are doing on campus. One of my favourites is Projections: Kwe in the Faculty of Engineering building, which was an Indigenous student group out of the Faculty of Engineering that put up this really cool art display in the lobby. So things like that as well, just uplifting and providing a platform for really amazing work on campus.
MD: You mentioned digitizing the Critical Campus Tour. What is your vision for how the project will evolve in the future?
MM: We’ve been trying to share [the tour] with professors and students to have it be accessible, so that it’s available on days other than just September 30. That’s why we’re trying to move it to a digital platform, because all the information and all of what we would say on the tour is now online. So you can do it yourself. There’s also a map to guide you.
MM: We really hope that it’s a useful resource for classes and for groups on campus, just to continue the legacy of having this tour run because it has so much interesting information. A lot of it gets swept under the rug. So just having people be more aware and using it in different spaces.
MM: I also want to emphasize that the Critical Campus Tour is definitely not just my work; I’m one piece but it’s been many, many people who have worked on this. (Emilee Bews, Samantha Nepton, Sarah Boyer and Rune Hartgerink are Mackenzie’s primary collaborators.) The tour also gets revised every year. It’s like a living document. I hope that it continues to grow and change since it’s not meant to stay the same. We hope that other students will do more work [on the project] and continue it.
MD: What is your relationship with McGill’s Indigenous community like and how has it changed since participating in the IMPRESS program and starting the Critical Campus Tour?
MM: I’ve never seen myself as someone to do a Master’s. That was never really in my plan. I just was like, ‘OK, I’m going to be a teacher.’ And then after I did IMPRESS and research, my mentor Emilee Bews – who was also an undergrad at the same time as me and in the same program – really encouraged me to apply to the McCall McBain program. She was like, “just do it.” And I wasn’t sure. But Emily really pushed me. And then I decided to do a Master’s. And through my Master’s, I’m so lucky to do Indigenous centered research, which is really, really incredible. And I’m really grateful. I fully changed my trajectory.
MM: Working with and supporting Indigenous students in higher education also really changed how I see what I want to do in the future. It’s been a full circle experience. I’m so, so grateful for all the experiences that I’ve had.
MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your research and work with other Indigenous scholars at McGill, what does being a “good person” mean to you?
MM: Well, for me, it’s just supporting my community. It’s not about myself. I think it’s really about uplifting the voice of my community and strengthening my community. And following our values and doing everything with a good heart and good intentions is really important to me. I’ve been so grateful to have so many amazing opportunities. And I just want that also for my community.
The digital version of the 2025 Critical Campus Tour will launch at the We Will Walk Together Event on September 30. Students can find out more about the project and McGill’s Indigenous community and history by attending the event.