Difference Maker: Marc Maracle has built a better future for Indigenous people

The Algonquin College Marc Maracle attended in 1979 was in many ways the same college that presented him with an honorary degree four decades later. But in at least one way, today’s Algonquin has profoundly changed, he says.

Algonquin remains as great a place to learn as it was when he studied Architecture Technology and Mechanical Systems from 1979 to 1983, says Maracle, Executive Director of the Gignul Non-Profit Housing Corporation. But now it is also a welcoming place for students of diverse backgrounds, and an institution conscious of the values inherent in its name.

When Maracle arrived on the Ottawa campus in 1979, he saw it as an opportunity to experience a bigger world than the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve community outside Kingston where he grew up.

Both of his grandfathers were craftsmen, and his father had a knack for both building and drawing. “That was really my inspiration,” he says. “I knew what I was going to do or be involved in probably when I was seven or eight years old.”

Algonquin was the perfect place for learning the construction and design skills that would turn his inspiration into a reality. He learned construction fundamentals, the intricacies of the building code, and the relationships between the trades. He learned about plumbing, ventilation, and air conditioning.

“It shaped my ability and gave me the discipline to know what those (construction) skills were and how to apply them.”

Most of all, Algonquin gave him the choice of where to work and how to serve. Algonquin launched Maracle into a career that has taken him in directions he might not have imagined as a student. A job with an Indigenous consulting firm right out of college allowed him to be involved with project design as well as administration. Building and project managed developed into program and financial management, as well as employment and training.

Over the years, Maracle has worked as a Senior Policy Advisor with the National Aboriginal Management Board at Human Resources Development Canada and as the Executive Director of the National Association of Friendship Centres.

He returned to housing when he joined Gignul Non-Profit Housing as its Executive Director in the spring of 2004.

With Gignul, however, Maracle is less concerned with construction than in advocating for affordable housing for Indigenous people off-reserve.

Up to 87 per cent of Indigenous people in Canada do not reside on a reserve, and the largest portion of these people live in an urban area, he says, adding that this group is over-represented among the homeless on the streets of Canadian cities.

Maracle is proud of the work that Gignul has accomplished, particularly the development and construction of a 28-unit rental building near the St. Laurent Shopping Centre that was completed in 2011.

He credits much of his success to his years at Algonquin, but also acknowledges that as much as the College offered all those years ago, adjusting to campus life was not easy. “It was overwhelming coming from a reserve community into a large urban setting. It wasn’t always the easiest experience.”

Only after Maracle discovered the Odawa Native Friendship Centre off campus, did things get easier. “I had a chance to reconnect with other Indigenous people.”

These days, however, the experience of an Indigenous student at Algonquin is much different, says Maracle. With access to the College’s Mamidosewin Centre and the various cultural programs and services it offers to Indigenous learners, along with targeted programs such as Aboriginal Studies, Pathways to Indigenous Empowerment, and the Indigenous Cook Pre-Apprenticeship program, Algonquin is reaching out in significant ways, he says.

Algonquin’s development in recent years “has been transformational,” he says. “It’s specifically following a path of reconciliation and inclusiveness. What the College is building right now is an example of engagement, engagement with aboriginal people.”

Maracle regards his honorary degree as a tangible expression of the honour and privilege he’s enjoyed serving the community. “It’s an accumulation of everything that I’ve done so far. It’s humbling in the sense that somebody was paying attention.”

Algonquin’s officially adopted values — caring, learning, integrity, and respect — are reflected in the College’s approach to Indigenous students, Maracle says. “(Algonquin) is opening its arms, opening its heart and its eyes,” and living the values “we need to embrace as a country.”

Living one’s values was the theme of Maracle’s address at Algonquin’s Building Sciences Convocation this spring. He told graduates that in becoming more inviting and more welcoming, their College has created “a legacy of acknowledgement and inclusion, and a celebration of the diversity of who we are as a country.

“You are part of that legacy,” he told graduates. “It’s never about one big thing that creates change. Indeed, it’s a million little things. And you are all part of that magic.”