McGill University in Montreal has announced gifts totaling C$13 million ($10.18 million) from alumnus Gerald Rimer (’56) and his family in support of building renovations and a future institute dedicated to Indigenous languages and cultures.

A C$10 million ($7.83 million) gift from Rimer will fund the transformation of the sixty-year-old Leacock Building into a modern facility to support the educational needs of students and faculty, facilitate experiential learning, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. A C$3 million ($2.34 million) gift from the Rimer family will support the establishment of the Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges, to be located in the building. In recognition of Rimer and his late wife, Judie (’62), the facility will be renamed the Rimer Building.

The institute will include an Indigenous Language Reclamation and Revitalization Lab that will support Indigenous students, faculty, and community members in helping preserve and grow Indigenous languages and cultures. Planned initiatives also include language labs, training, and on-site knowledge keepers, as well as events and symposia.

Rimer, who founded Index Securities, the predecessor firm to Index Ventures, is a longtime supporter of McGill. In 2012, he established the Judie Rimer Entrance Scholarship, and in 2017 he made a gift to the Desautels Faculty of Management in support of renovations to the Armstrong Building.

“These two gifts are timely for our academic community in many important ways,” said Mary Hunter, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts. “They will help update the building in order to increase user accessibility and comfort, reflect the current and future needs and aims of the faculty’s diverse population in equitable and inclusive ways, and lay the groundwork for initiatives in support of our community of Indigenous scholars and students.”

(Photo credit: McGill University)
Source: PND