Calgarians are coming together in a new way to mark this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
They’re inviting everyone to join them in carrying on an important Indigenous tradition.
Members of the Indigenous community are creating a traditional starblanket.
“Many Indigenous people use it as a form of giving as an honour for any rite of passage – graduation, wedding, birth of a child,” project leader Dale Swampy said.
Project participants are inviting members of the public to join their starblanket-making sessions, creating it as part of their preparations for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.
“Continuing on the tradition of making these — it’s become a thing of what does reconciliation mean to me?” Swampy said. “I want to take that energy and put in on the starblanket.”
Participants are making the starblanket at Sparrow Artspace in northeast Calgary, part of an exhibit called “Honouring the Children.”
The exhibit features the work of Indigenous artists.
Danielle Piper’s piece focuses on her family members’ experiences in the residential school system.
“I think it’s really important to see the truth of it so that we can heal from it,” Piper said. “There’s no healing unless we can see the reality of what happened.”
People involved in the project will be taking the finished starblanket to a public event at Calgary’s Millenium Park on Sept. 30.
The CIF Reconciliation Society initiated the project.
“To me, a blanket is something that brings comfort to people, and it brings people together,” the society’s Sheila Norris said.
“It represents all people in our community, not just Indigenous – it’s everyone, and this will start conversations, this will empower people to look forward and walk in a way that is good, together.”