Artist Amber Jane Ruthart (White Bear First Nations, Treaty #4) created the public art installation title “A Hope for Healing” to honour the children whose remains have been found across Canada at former residential schools.
The art installation is back at Spencer Smith Park for Canada Day. This 2D giant strawberry-shaped installation was created from donations of clothes and shoes from the Burlington community. Strawberries are heart shaped in cross-section; the Ojibway word for strawberry is ode’min; the first half of the word, ode, means heart.
“A Hope for Healing” is part of the City of Burlington’s Community Initiated Public Art Policy.
This Canada Day, let’s take the time to think about the implications of this day for our Indigenous brothers and sisters, and listen to their stories of how ongoing systemic racism continues to impact their lives.
The recent discoveries of the remains of hundreds of children in unmarked graves in B.C. and Saskatchewan are a stark reminder of the horror of Canada’s colonial past, underlining that the residential school system was part of the genocide of Indigenous people. There will undoubtedly be further discoveries as residential school sites continue to be surveyed. Reflecting on Ruthart’s “A Hope for Healing,” we will grieve alongside their Indigenous families.
Then we must take real action to change. Visit the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund website for a list of concrete reconciliation actions you can take.
Sources:
City of Burlington. 2021. Local Artist Dedicates Art Installation in Honour of Lost Children from Kamloops Residential School. Url: https://www.burlington.ca/en/Modules/News/index.aspx?feedId=0b11ae3a-b049-4262-8ca4-762062555538&newsId=2024d761-e810-429f-b52c-91fe7eed103c (accessed July 1, 2021).
The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund. n.d. What is a Reconciliaction? Url: https://downiewenjack.ca/our-work/reconciliactions/ (accessed July 1, 2021).
