Journey Towards Truth and Reconciliation

My aesthetic representation is a bit of a collage, representing different aspects of the impacts of residential schools. The background is a medicine wheel, representing the emotions of physical and mental damage that was caused by the residential schools. It also represents healing and a sense of self. I put an orange T-shirt in the middle to express how every child matters and to represent that the orange shirt was taken away from Phyllis Webstad when she arrived at the residential school. A long braid borders the medicine wheel, representing how their beautiful hair was cut off upon arrival at the schools. For Indigenous men, braids are a symbol of strength, wisdom, and identity. I have expressed these three words on the poster as well. You will notice how I have maps cut into the shapes of feathers and crosses which resembles colonization. The crosses also represent graves for the children who died, whether it was physically or emotionally. They died inside, the “Indian inside of the child” was killed. The Europeans buried the identity of the indigenous children by pushing their Catholic beliefs and culture onto them. Finally, I have included the quote “If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth” by Timothy B. Tyson. I found this quote suitable because the terrible truth of Canada’s past needs to be shared before there can be full reconciliation. 

I spent a lot of time working on this art piece, which gave me a lot of time to reflect and just really realize how privileged I am. It almost brought me to tears a couple of times because I would stop and think about the pain and torture that went on in the residential schools. It makes you stop and think “Why me? What did I do to deserve such an easy life where I am accepted everywhere I go and received a quality education?”. White privilege is so real, and we as White settlers need to realize this. This was not our land, we are simply guests here. In one of her lectures, Fatima Pirbhai-Illich quoted “We are citizens of Canada, but we are uninvited guests. The government let us in, but the keepers of the land did not.” This quote will definitely stick with me as I go through life and remind me of my privileges as well as remind me that the true owners of this land are the Indigenous people.