[timeline_excerpt]In 1859, construction workers building houses at the corner of Rue Metcalfe and Boulevard de Maisonneuve unearthed remnants of skeletons, fire pits, tools, pottery, longhouse posts, and other evidence of an Iroquoian village formerly being located on the site. At this time, leading Canadian scientist and geologist William Dawson was the director of McGill College, responsible for developing the school into a major educational institution. Dawson examined this site – now referred to as Dawson Site – and concluded that it once held the village of Hochelaga. He published his findings the following year and many were quick to pronounce his conclusions correct so as to satisfy the intrigue surrounding Hochelaga’s enigmatic disappearance.[/timeline_excerpt]

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In 1859, construction workers building houses at the corner of Rue Metcalfe and Boulevard de Maisonneuve unearthed remnants of skeletons, fire pits, tools, pottery, longhouse posts, and other evidence of an Iroquoian village formerly being located on the site. At this time, leading Canadian scientist and geologist William Dawson was the director of McGill College, responsible for developing the school into a major educational institution. Dawson examined this site – now referred to as Dawson Site – and concluded that it once held the village of Hochelaga. He published his findings the following year and many were quick to pronounce his conclusions correct so as to satisfy the intrigue surrounding Hochelaga’s enigmatic disappearance. Dawson however accounted for uncertainty in his conclusions, writing:

“I do not maintain that this evidence is sufficient certainly to identify the site, but it is enough when taken in connection with the remains actually found, to induce us to regard this as the most probable site, until better evidence can be found in favour of some other.”

In 1972, an extensive new study was conducted by James Pendergast of the National Museum of Canada and Bruce Trigger, a McGill anthropologist who would go on to mentor leading Indigenous scholars such as Audra Simpson. They reexamined the artifacts and determined that “the Dawson site is not proved to be Hochelaga,” although the villages were contemporaneous to each other and “the material culture of the two was probably identical.” Most experts now agree that the Dawson site was a smaller Iroquoian settlement located in the vicinity of the more prominent village of Hochelaga in the early 16th century.

In February 2015, construction was halted on a 27-storey Manulife Financial headquarters at 900 de Maisonneuve Ouest after concerns were raised by photojournalist Robert Galbraith that traces of Hochelaga or artifacts related to the Dawson site might be located there. The firm Archéotec, which was hired to survey the area, advised that construction could resume as the soil in which archaeological evidence might be located had already been disturbed by 19th and 20th century infrastructure projects. Galbraith and fellow amateur historian Ian Barrett maintain that the search was not extensive enough. In a statement, they contended: “The past can be subtle and elusive. But the bottom line is, you can’t find something if you don’t look for it.” Regardless, construction is underway. Many artifacts from the Dawson site are now housed at the McCord Museum, near the location of their excavation.

Further Reading – An Open Letter: Ivanhoe-Cambridge Didn’t Look for Hochelaga[/timeline_content]

[timeline_excerpt]The establishment of McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies in 1952 made it the first such institution in North America. Founder Wilfred Cantwell Smith felt that co-education of Muslims and non-Muslims was essential to the study of the Muslim world.[/timeline_excerpt]

[timeline_excerpt]Translated into 321 languages and dialects, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10 1948 and represents the first global expression of a set of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. While the declaration is not legally binding, its articles have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties and it is the most cited legal document drafted by a Canadian.[/timeline_excerpt]

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Translated into 321 languages and dialects, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10 1948 and represents the first global expression of a set of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. While the declaration is not legally binding, its articles have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties and it is the most cited legal document drafted by a Canadian.

John Humphrey was asked to work with a committee of the United Nations Secretariat to help the organization draft a statement on human rights. Humphrey created a 400-page blueprint that became the foundation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the declaration itself. He acted as the Director of the United Nations Human Rights Division for 20 years before returning to McGill in 1966, where he served as a Professor of Law and Political Science. Humphrey’s contribution to the Declaration was unacknowledged until later on in his life – a French delegate was thought to have drafted the document. It was the discovery of the first draft in Humphrey’s handwriting that led to his belated recognition and him eventually be awarded the United Nations Prize for human rights advocacy on the 40th anniversary of the United Nations. Humphrey was also involved in international efforts to investigate human rights abuses in the Philippines and represented Korean women forced to act as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers in World War Two.[/timeline_content]