Algoma University

Algoma University, established on the site of the former Shingwauk Indian Residential School in 2008, has a Special Mission to:

• be a teaching-oriented university that provides programs in liberal arts and sciences and professional programs, primarily at the undergraduate level, with a particular focus on the needs of northern Ontario; and
• cultivate cross-cultural learning between Aboriginal communities and other communities, in keeping with the history of Algoma University College and its geographic site.

As Ontario’s smallest university, and also a multi-campus institution (Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, Brampton), we offer transformative education through a student-centred approach to teaching and learning, with multiple entry points to a university education: high school, college pathways, international credentials, certificate programs. We serve the communities where we have campuses but our students come from across Ontario, Canada and the world. 

Uniquely in Ontario, AU partners and shares a site with Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig, one of Ontario’s Indigenous Institutes, through a Covenant with the Shingwauk Education Trust, which administers these lands set aside for education. The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) continues to guide AU as the 50th anniversary of the closing (1970) of the Shingwauk Residential School nears. AU hosts the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, a cross-cultural research and educational project of AU and CSAA. The partners work with Survivors, educators, First Nations and others to research, collect, preserve, and display the history of the residential schools across Canada, developing/delivering projects of sharing, healing, learning, and cultural restoration. AU also partners with the Ontario Native Welfare Administrators Association and the National Aboriginal Land Managers Association to deliver certificate and degree program options created specifically for their members. 

Academic offerings include undergraduate arts/science programs and professional degrees, including the Anishinaabe-focused Social Work, Community Economic and Social Development, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) and Anishinaabe Studies programs.

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