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Welcome to Massey College’s Chapel Royal, Gi-Chi-Twaa Gimaa Nini Mississauga Anishinaabek AName Amik – The King’s Anishinaabek Sacred Place.
The history of the chapel dates from the founding of Massey College. Vincent Massey, Canada’s first Canadian-born Governor General and one of the founders of the College, insisted that it be included in the design, in order to “symbolize the position that religion should have in a house of learning.” It was intended as a space for people of goodwill, from all faiths.
The original interior design was by the renowned theatre designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch, whose work Vincent Massey admired. The present design is a renovation by the Toronto firm of Shim & Sutcliffe, which added the white oak ceiling, as well as new windows, lighting, fabric wall panels and slate floor.
The designation as a Chapel Royal was granted in 2017 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in honour of the Sesquicentennial of Canada, and the special relationship between Massey College and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The term “Chapel Royal” has a long and colourful history in Britain, going back to the Middle Ages – but there are only three outside of the UK, all of them in Ontario, and all associated with First Nations.
Massey College – in fact the entire City of Toronto – is built on the treaty territory of the Mississaugas. So this Chapel Royal recognized the direct treaty relationship between the Crown and the Mississaugas, which was established in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara in 1764. It also symbolizes the commitment of Massey College to take an active role in working for the cause of Truth and Reconciliation. It was conceived as a place to gather, to learn and to reflect, and as an inspiration to work toward a new understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
Some of the furnishings and artwork in the Chapel Royal date from the early history of the College, and some have been added to reflect its new designation.
The cross and the reredos behind the altar were gifts from Vincent Massey, and date back to 17th-century Russia. The framed fabric on the back wall is from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. On the south wall, from the back: an icon of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of scholars, after whom the chapel was originally named; a plaque with the College Prayer, adapted by Founding Master Robertson Davies from an 18th-century Quaker prayer; and a tapestry depicting the Tree of Life, a reference from the Jewish scriptures.
In the entryway, there is a glass mosaic titled “Covenant Prayer” by the renowned artist Sarah Hall; it was inspired by the 1794 Silver Covenant Chain of Friendship, which was presented by Sir William Johnson on behalf of the Crown at the Treaty of Niagara. On the altar you will see items used for smudging; and beneath it is a bowl created from silver maple by master carver Morley McArthur, which holds ceremonial tobacco bundles from the Chapel Royal tobacco beds. And suspended from the centre of the ceiling is an eagle feather, which was gifted to the Chapel Royal by then-National Chief Perry Pellegarde at an historic gathering of Indigenous leaders with the Governor General, the Lieutenant Governors and the Territorial Commissioners of Canada in the Chapel Royal in 2019.
On your way down the stairs, you passed a large mural by the Ojibway artist, activist and knowledge keeper Philip Coté, which tells the story of the Treaty of Niagara and the Silver Covenant Chain wampum belt.
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