Dear Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research and International,
In response to your August 6, 2019 invitation to Waterloo community members to share their views on the Thirty Meter Telescope, the Librarians and Archivists Association of the University of Waterloo (LAAUW) is writing to express its support for a moratorium on the project.
As a member of the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy, Waterloo is well positioned to follow the lead of the University of British Columbia, in calling for a reconsideration of the TMT project. Many Kānaka Maoli, Indigenous Hawaiians, continue to be clear about their opposition to the project, and they have the right to dialogue regarding their wishes for sacred, ancestral land without pressure from universities like our own.
Meaningful reconciliation is not limited to on-campus initiatives or relationship building. Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land promised to the Six Nations, but our accountability to Indigenous peoples equally extends to those living on lands where our research interests are being pursued. Waterloo’s Indigenization Strategy centres the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and our continued support of the TMT project, as is, creates clear inconsistencies regarding our collective responsibility and commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples who continue to live on this land.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), emphasizes consulting with and obtaining consent from Indigenous peoples regarding land development. Calling for a project moratorium is one way that Waterloo can work to ensure that “[a]ny action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing [Indigenous peoples] of their lands, territories or resources” (UNDRIP, Section 8.b) be avoided.
LAAUW joins community members from across campus in calling for a TMT moratorium in order to centre the rights of Kānaka Maoli, Indigenous Hawaiians and to uphold our collective responsibility to the reconciliation process on- and off-campus.
Respectfully,
The Librarians’ and Archivists’ Association of the University of Waterloo (LAAUW)
(This letter is not endorsed nor does it speak on behalf of the UWaterloo Library)