Submitted by Langton Public School:
Three years ago, Langton Public School (LPS) began to take initial steps towards reconciliation by infusing Indigenous learning and knowledge into their building, and initiating relationships with authentic voices, like local Indigenous community partner, Brittany Taylor, (Anishinaabe educator, Business Owner, Entrepreneur, and all around rock star!).
The school wanted to share their learnings and ensure its Indigenous students, families, and community members felt welcomed into the school, so they decided on creating a mural in the front foyer.
The overall vision of the mural was to represent this school year’s teachings about the 13 moons represented on the turtle’s back and our connection to the land.
In collaboration with the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) Indigenous Student Success Team (ISST), the school was able to connect with Indigenous artist, Cileena Sandy, from Wasauksing First Nation. Funding was secured through support from the ISST, a school sticker sale, and the Imagine a Canada grant – a education program through the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and the University of Manitoba.
With the support from teachers Leah Ryrie and Terra Macey, two Grade 6 students, Aurora McConini and Maya Dunn, collaborated to submit a piece in the Imagine a Canada Art and Essay Stream titled, What Reconciliation Means to Us. The pair was successful and was awarded the $1,500 grant to support the creation of the mural!
As part of their award, Aurora and Maya were invited to participate in an online seminar on April 10, where they heard from Indigenous Elders from across Turtle Island. They have also been invited to an all expenses paid trip to the Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg for more learning and conferencing, which will happen in May.
An important part of the mural creation and working with the artist, Cileena, was not only seeing the school’s vision reflected, but having students and staff help create it. Classes were invited to create artwork to represent the different moons that we had received teachings on from Brittany Taylor. The artwork was reviewed and one to two pieces were chosen for each moon with the plan of having students help recreate their piece inside one section on the Turtle’s back.
“Painting this mural means a lot to me because it makes me very proud of my culture as an Algonquin child,” said McConini.
Despite having some difficulties incorporating the student artwork onto the surfaces, staff worked with Cileena and decided that their moon artwork could be framed in circular frames to represent each of the 13 moons.
“Although the mural is still awaiting some finishing touches, and most importantly our student artwork, the school is amazed with the outcome so far,” said LPS principal, Nathan Stephenson. “We are excited to welcome Cileena back in May to put some finishing touches on after we hang our student artwork. At that time, we look forward to sharing our completed product with not only our school but our community.”
