September 30 - November 18, 2023 | Arts Umbrella
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September 30 - November 18, 2023 | Arts Umbrella *
CALL AND RESPOND
Conversations on Truth and Reconciliation
I Dream Library Multimedia Exhibit
CALL AND RESPOND connects visitors with Indigenous artists and storytellers, colonial history, and ways to be part of realizing the 94 Calls to Action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015. This exhibit features curated collections of stories on 2 floors, and is held together through the flight of 94 monarch butterflies, signifying the intergenerational journey toward reconciliation. Visitors are invited to learn about the status of the TRC Calls to Action, and engage the learning prompts in each work, responding with their time, attention, and conversations on reconciliation as a daily practice.
CALL AND RESPOND is dedicated to our friendships and community of artists, authors, athletes, booksellers, schools, educators, galleries, businesses, and community organizations. Thank you for trusting our interdisciplinary approach to equity and justice.
- Aisha Kiani & Rakim, I Dream Library
Exhibit photography by Devan Francis, 2023
Reconciliation is an ongoing process, an intergenerational, intercultural commitment, a visible practice in education spaces, a daily effort toward building trust. There is risk and reward in the learning process. Here, the skateboard represents this balance, serving as a vehicle for truth telling, accessible art, freedom of movement, and grace on this journey.
— Aisha Kiani
How to use this page
This digital exhibit is a portal to equity learning, teaching prompts, and systems change inspiration
Click on the artworks and hyperlinks to learn more about each artist and organization
Click on the book titles to learn more about the story, creators, art, equity topics, and languages used in each one
Videos introduce the book’s themes and creators to engage visual and auditory learners and inspire equity conversations
THIS IS A TRUE STORY
ACCESSIBLE HEIGHT GALLERY + PHOTOGRAPHY
THIS IS A TRUE STORY features photography and child friendly / accessible height gallery wall that connects visitors of all ages with the legacy of colonialism through a timeline that honours Indigenous culture, resistance, healing, and pride. The visual narrative features artworks on skateboard decks from Colonialism Skateboards, a company started by Anishinaabe / Cree artist Mike Langan to “educate the public on elements of our shared history and the culture of aboriginal peoples in Canada through our love for skateboarding” and includes the work of Métis artist, activist, and designer Christi Belcourt (apihtâwikosisâniskwêw / mânitow sâkahikanihk), Tlingit artist Tom Dickson Jr., photographer Taylor Ross-Robinson, actor, pro skater, speaker and community leader Joe Buffalo from Samson Cree Nation, and pro skater and community leader Rosie Archie from Tsq'escen' / Secwepemc Nation.
Click to learn the history:
PHOTOGRAPHY
Mathew Delorme-King | Cree-Métis Fishing Lake Treaty NO.6
Photo of Victor Corpuz
Tiwa Territory, North Domingo Baca Skatepark, New Mexico, 2022
JOURNEY TOGETHER
MULTIMEDIA
94 monarch butterflies signifying the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) 94 CALLS TO ACTION and our collective intergenerational journey toward reconciliation.
Learn about the status of the Calls to Action here:
INDIGENOUS WATCHDOG
STAY IN TOUCH
LITERARY INSTALLATION
STAY IN TOUCH invites visitors to learn from Indigenous storytellers, and support Indigenous led organizations beyond The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. In this library of photography, literature, and textile stories, learners of all ages connect with stories of truth, healing, and joy. We honour the relationships we’ve built with these changemakers through a shared commitment to social justice: Thank you Massy Books for your support and collaboration over the years. Thank you Norma Ibarra for your lens and the way you bring us all together. Thank you Nations Skate Youth and Takeover Skateboarding for creating accessible and healing spaces with us, and so many others. Thank you Rashelle for designing rugs that ground our library and make it fun for kids!
Love Aisha + Rakim, I Dream Library
PHOTOGRAPHY
NORMA IBARRA | YAQUI
Norma Ibarra is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist, content creator, community organizer, marketer and adventure seeker maneuvering boundlessly through photography, videography, and adventure sports. Of these, photography is an endless playground for her unique expression. Through her work, Norma shares the stories of change-makers around the globe. Her photos tell stories of diverse, proud community builders, simultaneously challenging and independently broadening the definition of “traditional media,” documenting a profound youth-driven lens around inclusion, representation, equity, resilience and belonging.
NORA STAKAYA PAPE | Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations | In this photo I’m wearing a woven cedar bark hat, made by a Musqueam woman. My mom gave it to me for my graduation. She was gifted it for her university graduation by my Teh (grandma). As Coast Salish People we come from a matriarchal society, this hat is an example of that as it’s been passed down through many generations of women. When I wear it I feel proud and connected. The beaded hat in my portrait is a style that me and the homies like to call a “Landon hat”. It’s a beaded hat that has lots of different things on it from myself and from my friends, someday I’d love to have something on it from everyone. I love my friends and when I wear this hat I feel really loved too. The medicine pouch I’m wearing is from the Huichol People in Sayulita. Me and my mom have been going and visiting the Huichol people since I was born. Their culture has a lot of similarities to ours and we feel really at home visiting there. The Mocs I’m wearing are my outdoor ones because they have a really thick rubber sole and are real warm inside. I love my Mocs.
TAYLOR LEE | Saint-Laurent de Grandin Settlement Métis / Cree | I am wearing a ribbon skirt made by a Two-Spirit youth, a friend in community. My beaded medicine bag I made myself based off of dreams of ocîhiminisa (low strawberries) fields. My kikohkom scarf was gifted to me by nimâmâ (my mother). The ring holding my scarf on was gifted to me by a Cree-Saulteaux kookum who's guidance in this urban space has been pivotal to me, the ring was a gift to offer protection of my watakamisô (being high spirited). What I am wearing is a culmination of items that make me feel safe, held by wahkômâkanak (ancestors) and loved ones, held by askî (land) itself, pieces that together create the feeling in my heart that is akin to dreaming. I am the closest to my ancestral territories and riverside homelands when I am dreaming, I am closest to the teachings of my role and responsibilities of being a Métis oskinîkiskwêw (young woman) when I am dreaming. Wearing these items as regalia holds a responsibility to carry my family forward into the future with pride, with humility, with a deep knowing of self, a deep connection to the beauty, the active resistance and fighting spirit of who we are as Métis, as Michif Nêhiyaw, as Âpihtaw'kos'ân, as people who own themselves.
JAIME - LYNN COOK | Semiahmoo Nation | This is my ladies fancy shawl powwow regalia, this certain style of dance has helped me through many hard times with movement and creativity, some of my pieces have been passed down and gifted to me along my trails and others pieces I created myself. Every one of my feathers I am wearing were gifted to me, they are all eagle feathers and I treat each one with the most care and love. This style of dance is to represent the butterfly.
TEXTILE
RASHELLE CAMPBELL | CREE
“My works are from moments of nostalgia.”
Rashelle Campbell (she/her) is a Nehiyaw Iskwew multidisciplinary designer who values playfulness as a means of exemplifying a more diverse standard of beauty, which sings into her designs. She is currently residing on the beautiful prairie lands of Amiskwaciwâskahikan ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ treaty 6 territory (Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA)
Rashelle Campbell | Flubber Party Rug
BOOKLIST
Curated to share the legacy of storytelling through generations of Indigenous writers and artists. Here you can find Haida artist Robert Davidson’s latest exhibition book Echoes of the Supernatural, and children’s stories he created together with his daughter, author and educator Sara Florence Davidson. You’ll find a book by legendary Métis author Maria Campbell written in 1978 dedicated to her young niece Nicola. 45 years later, Nicola’s award winning books are part of this library collection too. We’re honoured to share with you.
How to use this section
A portal to equity learning, teaching prompts, and systems change inspiration
Click on the orange links to find out more about the storytellers
Play the videos for multimedia introductions the story’s content and context
Indigenous storytellers nations are acknowledged after their name
Use Native-Land.ca to learn more about the storytellers’ nations, territories, and language
Picture Books
Select a book to learn more
Hi! We’re updating our website and this page is still under construction. Thank you for your patience.
Every Child Matters
Learn the meaning behind the phrase, ‘Every Child Matters. Orange Shirt Day founder, Phyllis Webstad, offers insights into this heartfelt movement. Every Child Matters honours the history and resiliency of Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island and moves us all forward on a path toward Truth and Reconciliation.
My Powerful Hair
From Carole Lindstrom, author of the We Are Water Protectors, and debut illustrator Steph Littlebird comes an empowering and healing celebration of hair and its significance across Indigenous cultures.
Middle Grade
novel, graphic novels, biographies
Select a book to learn more
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A Stranger at Home: A True Story
Traveling to be reunited with her family in the arctic, 10-year-old Margaret Pokiak can hardly contain her excitement. It’s been two years since her parents delivered her to the school run by the dark-cloaked nuns and brothers.
Young Adult
memoir
Select a book to learn more
Spíləx̣m: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence
Nicola I. Campbell deftly weaves rich poetry and vivid prose into a story basket of memories orating what it means to be an intergenerational survivor of Indian Residential Schools.
Art & Photography
Select a book to learn more
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Alanis Obomsawin: Lifework
The book includes illuminating essays exploring Obomsawin’s practice and mission as well as personal commentary from collaborators, archival material, and photographs from the filmmaker’s personal life and professional practice.
