ATHABASCA – You’ll be sure to see a lot of orange shirts this week as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation arrives Sept. 30, and a lot of them, at least in the Athabasca region, will sport a new design created by a former Smith School and Edwin Parr Composite student.
When Smith School principal Amber Hensch was looking for an artist to create a design that could be incorporated onto the orange shirts that were being worn to commemorate Orange Shirt Day, also now formally recognized as Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, she actually went to Tara Cardinal’s older sister first.
“My older sister was actually offered the opportunity but turned it down, so I stepped in. The principal was basically looking for past artists from the school,” said Cardinal in an interview Sept. 23.
The design shows a community of people, holding hands around a pole adorned with pairs of shoes. Streams of misty colour in the background can be seen as well, as the whole scene plays out on the back of a large turtle.
“With this being the second year we’ve recognized National Truth and Reconciliation Day, I wanted to have a meaning behind it,” said the 20-year-old artist, explaining her vision for the design, which was inspired by her experience at a recent powwow that featured a similar pole adorned in children’s shoes.
“They had this big pole and had a bunch of shoes and I thought it was a really good idea because the shoes represent, for me, they represent the kids that were recently found in Canada in unmarked graves. I had to tie that in. And then the lights going up are just our ancestors.
“I realized I don’t have to go through my pain alone, we do it as a community, and there is so much healing that way. So, I have our elders; our men; our little elders, our children; and our women, so it’s a full, complete community … and then the turtle just represents us, to this day, and that we still have our place here and we’re fighting to have our voices heard.”
Cardinal said she’s relieved the stories that were once only heard behind closed doors in her family are now being brought to the public eye, and public scrutiny. She recalls being asked for her opinion on that history in a social studies class in high school, just a few years ago.
“I definitely did not sugarcoat anything,” she said. “In my family, when it comes to our history, we really want to be able to talk about that amongst our friends and peers and it's really important to us as people be able to tell our stories and now, we're being heard.”
Another inspiration for the design was a recent medicine walk she attended through the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre, she said.
“Just being able to be outside and being able to really devote myself to thinking about ideas and what I really wanted to get out there, it clicked. Inspiration!” she said. “Honestly, I'm just really grateful for this opportunity because not only do I have support for my family, but this is for my little cousins too because they're able to look up to me and it’s really a steppingstone for me to find my place. I'm just so blessed to be able to do this.”
