TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION  

Before acknowledging Canada Day, the City of New Westminster must first acknowledge its history of violence against the First Peoples of this land. We have come upon the three year anniversary of the announcement out of Tk’emlups te Secwe̓pemc about the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.  

Forevermore, Canada Day will not only be a day to celebrate the privilege of being Canadian but also to remember and to acknowledge that the price of that privilege was and continues to be impossibly high to Indigenous peoples and their communities. It is our responsibility as a Nation, as a City, and as citizens of this land, to make reparations for that history through our ongoing commitment to reconciliation.  

After initial conversations with Indigenous people of New Westminster as well as with the Residential School Survivors Society, the City has chosen to memorialize the 215 and acknowledge that growing number by incorporating Salish artwork into its Canada Day graphic design as a symbol of our commitment to truth and reconciliation.  

CANADA DAY GRAPHIC, ARTIST STATEMENT  

Growing up in East Vancouver I was taught formline by Coast Salish Elders like Melany Gleason Lyall Point. Later in life I learned my Dakelh peoples style of formline. So my artistic practice is a blend of northern and southern formline styles. That being said, I used southern style trigons for this design to symbolize Canada going from coast to coast to coast. But not only Canada, Indigenous peoples. Like the trigons, we have had these land based practices and histories on every corner of this country and continent. Just as Canada goes from coast to coast to coast, so does Indigenous culture, history, and people. I know that the city of New Westminster is situated on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples. So I wanted to honour them and their care of these lands and waters with the use of contemporary southern style eyes and trigons. As we honour the styles and cultures of Indigenous peoples we also honour those who have gone before. We honour all those who perished in the residential schools. Children who perished being told that their culture, languages, and art forms were wrong and less than. By honouring Indigenous art, especially on Canada day and on the Canadian flag, it is a step in righting the wrongs committed against Indigenous children. So that no other Indigenous child, or child of any culture or identity will ever believe that Indigenous culture and traditional ways are less than.  

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY, RANDALL BEAR BARNETSON

Randall Bear Barnetson is a multidisciplinary artist of Indigenous heritage. Randall Bear Barnetson is from the village of Nadleh Whut’en, the Dakelh nation, and of the Duntem’yoo Bear clan. Bear’s artistic practice interprets matters of modernity such as mental health and wellbeing, identity, culture, and spirituality, through the framework of Northwest Coast Indigenous art forms. Bear’s art and traditional storytelling has aided in reconciliation and decolonization efforts with settler organizations in discussing Indigenous culture and heritage. Bear was born and raised in the urban Indigenous community of Commercial drive in Vancouver BC. Bear spent years serving alongside his parents who founded a thriving mission on the 100 block of Hastings that provided essential services to over two million members of the Downtown Eastside Community. Bear’s practice is currently based on the Unceded Territories of the Musqueam Coast Salish peoples as a guest. On this territory is Vancouver’s YVR international airport, from which Bear received the Emerging Indigenous Artist Scholarship award in 2022. Bear is enrolled in his Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Bear has completed the Foundation Program thus far. 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS  

This project has been made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Canada. 

The event is also supported by the following sponsors:   

Presenting Sponsors: Arts New West and Fraser Discovery Centre

Community Sponsors: Gardens4Kids, Vancouver Circus School, and Immigrant Services Society of BC.

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