Open letter to MUN Board of Regents

NunatuKavut Youth and MUN Alumni—Your Voice Is Power.

It’s Time to Rise.

When injustice shows up, we show up louder.

Memorial University’s draft Indigenous Verification Policy is threatening to erase our identity; the rights and futures of NunatuKavut Inuit youth—something no institution has the right to do.

“A biased policy would exclude NunatuKavut Inuit – something Memorial University has no authority to determine.”

Now is the time to act.

Write your letter.

Share your story.

Tag MUN.

Demand change.

Your voice can shift public opinion, media focus, and help protect our future.

We will not stay silent.

We will not be erased.

Read the letter.

Feel the truth.

Take action.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY: Share this post. Email your own letter to the MUN Board of Regents. CC: NCC at info@nunatukavut.ca so your voice joins the wave. Use the hashtag #WeAreNunatuKavutInuit to keep it trending.

See letter below from Keona Russell, Neuroscience student, MUN

April 15, 2025

Mr. Justin Ladha
Chair, Board of Regents
Memorial University of NL
St. John’s, NL

Dear Mr. Ladha,

I am writing you not as an official or a representative, but as a student who is deeply hurt by what is unfolding at my university.

I am a NunatuKavut Inuk woman, and I have worked hard to get where I am. I come from the South Coast of Labrador. My family is there. My roots are there. My identity, my strength, and the values that shape me come from that land and that community.

And now, I am being asked to prove my existence by a university that is meant to support me.

I came to university not to debate my existence, but to learn, to grow. I walk the halls of Memorial University carrying the weight of my community on my shoulders, but lately, that weight has become heavier, not because of coursework, but because of the message this institution is sending to me and other students like me.

Memorial’s draft Indigenous verification policy has left me shaken. It has made me feel like my voice does not matter, like my history can be crossed out with the stroke of a pen. I want to be clear: this is not just about policy, it is about people. It is about me. It is about the students I sit beside every day in my classes. It is about the future of Indigenous youth from Southern and Central Labrador who already feel like they are on the margins, and now feel pushed off the page entirely.

I did not come to university to fight for my right to belong. Yet here I am.

It breaks my heart to see an institution that should be lifting us up aligning with voices that erase us instead. I never expected the hardest part of my university degree would be needing to defend who I am; to constantly brace for being disbelieved, or worse, dismissed.

I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking to be treated with the same dignity and recognition afforded to other Indigenous students. I am asking that my university not become a gatekeeper for identity. I am asking that the humanity of NunatuKavut Inuit be seen, not filtered through political tension.

I am not a threat to anyone else’s identity. I am not trying to take anyone’s place. I am simply trying to claim mine.

To my Indigenous brothers and sisters, I ask you to stand with me. We may not all share the same background, but we share the experience of having to fight for our rights. I do not want your seat at the table. I only want to sit and fight beside you. The colonial system we are living under was not made for us. It was designed to divide us, to make us question each other, to hold us down. But together, if we choose to stand in unity, we can rise against it.

To the Indigenous leaders who oppose our inclusion, I still extend my hand in hope. Because we are stronger together, and our youth deserve unity, not division. I am asking all Indigenous peoples, especially those who know what it feels like to have their truth denied, to stand with us. Please do not let politics erase people.

To Memorial, I ask: when you look at this policy, do you see what it is doing to students like me? Do you see the harm, the exclusion, the message it sends—that some of us are not Indigenous enough to count? That some of us do not deserve support, community, or belonging? I ask you to look beyond politics and into the faces of the students you serve. What future are you building if you exclude us?

And to everyone reading this—students, staff, faculty, and community members—I ask you to stand with us. Speak out. Share your concerns. Let the university know that you will not support a policy that erases people. That you believe in a future where every Indigenous student is seen, respected, and uplifted.

Because this is what erasure looks like in 2025. It wears a university crest. It speaks in press releases. It hides behind politics and protocols. But we see it, and we will name it. We will not be erased.

I am not a political pawn. I am not a problem to be solved. I am a person with a name, a history, and a community that stands behind me. And no university has the right to dictate who I am.

My identity is not up for debate. I will not be erased through policy or politics, and I will not let students like me be erased. I will continue to speak—not out of anger, but from a place of deep love for my community and hope for a future where all Indigenous students are seen, valued, and supported.

Sincerely,

Keona Russell
BSc (Honours) in Behavioural Neuroscience Student
Memorial University of Newfoundland

NT4