The Blog

Follow along as we work towards systems change and help create better outcomes for kids in our community.

Community Mural Project

March 23, 2018

Over the past few months we’ve been working on a special art project with our Parent Guide Group that we’re very excited to finally unveil to the community!

Through a partnership with Graffiti Gallery, we were able to design and paint a large mural that will be installed permanently on Selkirk Avenue. It incorporates places and themes from the North End that were featured in the poem that was written collaboratively by the Parent Guide Group.

What was really special about this project was that our Parent Guide Group members got to bring their families to participate, as Pat Lazo from Graffiti Gallery helped us to sketch out ideas and then turn them into one cohesive design. He then helped all the kids and parents through the process of actually painting the mural, including some of the trickier details.

For many of us, this was the first time that we were able to see the process of creating a mural from start to finish, which was a very cool skill to learn. Also, Pat was so great at helping us to figure out the painting aspect of things that even those of us that didn’t consider ourselves artists (like me) were able to participate and contribute.

The mural will be on display at the Indigenous Family Centre on March 29 at 4:30 – 6:00 pm. The event will include food and entertainment, and the Indigenous Family Centre will also have their community mural on display as well. Everyone is welcome to attend to sneak a peek at the murals before they’re installed permanently in the North End.

What: Community Mural Unveiling Event
When: Thursday, March 29, 2018
Time: 4:30 – 6:00 PM
Where: Indigenous Family Centre – 470 Selkirk Ave

Check out our Facebook event for more info!

Land Acknowledgement

The Winnipeg Boldness Project resides in and works on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe), Anishinabewaki (Oji-Cree), Dené, Michif Piyii (Métis), Nêhiyawak (Cree), and Očhéthi Sakowin (Dakota). We recognize that we have benefited from and continue to benefit from colonization on the Treaty 1, Treaty 3, and Treaty 5 Territories.

It is important to also acknowledge how we benefit in this territory at the cost to Indigenous Peoples. Winnipeg has been drinking clean water for over a century via an aqueduct from Shoal Lake. In 1917, 3000 acres of Treaty 3 was declared property of the city of Winnipeg to build the aqueduct. This aqueduct was built over ancestral burial ground, to build these structures, the ancestors were disinterred and reburied. Construction of the aqueduct changed the waters significantly, causing the peninsula to become a man-made island. This now isolated Nation faced many challenges as a direct result from this aqueduct; Necessities like water, groceries, schools, and mail were only accessible via the dangerous trek to the mainland. Lives of adults and children were lost crossing to and from the mainland. Freedom Road, an all-weather road access finally opened summer 2019, over a century after displacement. This road, a testament to the success of Indigenous-led solutions, helps bring materials to build schools and a water treatment plant.

“I always think of it, even when I turn on the tap I’m like this comes from our community and this water probably contains our ancestors and the spirits of our ancestor. I think about the hardships of the people from Shoal Lake 40 who have gone through so many things for the benefit of Winnipeg’s drinking water,” says Angelina McLeod.¹

Another benefit we reap in Winnipeg at a cost to Indigenous Peoples and land is the Hydro Electricity Development in Treaty 5. To optimize water movement for greatest power production the Province of Manitoba increased waterflow by creating the Churchill River Diversion in 1976. The modification of the waterflow caused flooding, shoreline erosion, and changes to water quality. This destruction of habitat has caused disruption to waterway travel, fishing, and hunting.

https://www.aptnnews.ca/facetoface/spirits-of-our-ancestor-shoal-lake-40-is-rectifying-a-century-of-hardships/