The University of New Brunswick has launched its Memorial Forest project, highlighting trees located on campus which celebrate past members, classes and significant events.
For decades the planted trees have served to both beautify the campus as well as pay homage to important milestones and figures, but now the vast collection has been highlighted as a special package.
“We’ve accumulated a substantial amount of trees on campus,” said Eddy Campbell, UNB’s president. “Now we have this event where you can wander around the campus with this map, find the memorial tree, read a little bit about the person who’s being honoured or the class who’s being honoured.”
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When drawing up the map they discovered that to date 149 trees had been planted and dedicated, which made the decision on what to celebrate next an easy one.
“We have this lovely coincidence of 150 memorial trees on campus as the country celebrates its 150th birthday,” explained Campbell. “It’s pretty terrific.”
The project launch and Canada 150 dedication were held together with UNB’s Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre’s Elder-in-Residence Imelda Perley speaking to the crowd and taking part in ceremonial planting.
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“I was asked if I would actually give it a traditional name so it was proudly gifted with a traditional name,” Perley explained. “That’s a really important thing for the campus to acknowledge another language because we’re not part of French and English policies.”
“To show the resilience that we still have the word for maple tree is amazing and it’ll always be here for future generations to come,” she said.