{"id":23376,"date":"2019-03-30T13:57:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T17:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23376"},"modified":"2019-03-30T13:58:02","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T17:58:02","slug":"peaceful-portage-departs-on-path-towards-truth-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/peaceful-portage-departs-on-path-towards-truth-reconciliation\/","title":{"rendered":"Peaceful portage departs on path towards Truth & Reconciliation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A peaceful portage, bringing together the artistic talents of dozens of\nlocal students, set out for Aurora on Tuesday night on the path towards Truth\n& Reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sacred Canoe, a multidisciplinary art project spearheaded by\nstudents of Newmarket\u2019s Sacred Heart Catholic High School, was launched in a\nspectacular fashion last Tuesday at St. Andrew\u2019s College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sacred Canoe itself is twofold, both a spectacularly painted\n19-foot-long vessel and a three-part dramatic project, but before the canoe\nbegan its journey to Ottawa to be presented to Chief Kirby Whiteduck of the\nAlgonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation in a ceremony hosted by\nNewmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson to coincide with the International Day for\nthe Elimination of Racial Discrimination, both took centre-stage at SAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sacred Canoe is a multidisciplinary art project launched in 2017 to\nanswer specific calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Report, say\nproject organizers. It included over 150 watercolour landscapes, dry-point\netchings and spirit animals designed by the Newmarket students, under the\nguidance of teachers and Indigenous Community members who acted as mentors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The designs were inspired by photographs taken at Webequie First Nation\nReserve, its surrounding areas, and stories that were told from students at the\nInnulik School in Quebec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integral in the performance aspect of The Sacred Canoe were Aurora\nteacher Dawn Ellis-Mobbs, Department Head of Arts at Sacred Heart, and\nNewmarket Musician Glenn Marais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe canoe is travelling to\nOttawa and that was a dream that sort of came from the first time this was\npresented two years ago,\u201d said Ms. Ellis-Mobbs. \u201cMany of the partners are still\nin place, so that is a great testament to the dedication that these kinds of\nprojects have because everyone feels like they are part of it and, from that,\ngreat relationships have developed. We have the honour of presenting the canoe\nin Parliament to Chief Kirby Whiteduck and it is a beautiful honour and a great\ntribute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Marais explained the\nevolution of the four-part play that highlights the importance of reaching\nTruth & Reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first part of it speaks\nto the early relationship between settlers and indigenous people, where they\nfirst worked in harmony, running in parallel paths without interfering in their\nculture and sharing in trade and helping each other to thrive in the early\nstages of Canada\u2019s history,\u201d said Mr. Marais. \u201cThe second part tells the story\nof colonization and the Indian Act, when things changed after the War of 1812\nfor indigenous people dramatically. The third act illustrates and speaks to the\nResidential School system and the impact it had on indigenous communities and\ntheir children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe final act of the play is\nthe Truth and Reconciliation and the journey of the canoe in the spiritual\nsense, replicates the physical being of Canada geographically in the first part\nof our history. It is our hope that this Sacred Canoe opens up conversations and actions for people to continue to\nwork together in Truth and Reconciliation, to re-open and reconnect Canada in\nthat sense of working together in harmony and not interfering with each other\u2019s\ncultures. Working together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the participants in\nlast week\u2019s ceremony were Suzanne Smoke of the Alderville First Nations, who\nspoke about the relationship of the Indigenous Peoples \u2013 and indeed all peoples\n\u2013 to the water, Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, who spoke about the history of\nlocal indigenous settlements, and Mayor Tom Mrakas, who delivered video\ngreetings due to a conflict with that evening\u2019s Council meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to congratulate the\nproject team\u2026and the students of Sacred Heart for their work on this incredible\nproject,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas. \u201cThe painting on the canoe sends a very moving\nmessage; a message which must be heard across our country. Reconciliation can\nonly happen when two cultures walk together, side by side, in harmony and\npeace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeace requires that we open\nour hearts and minds to the incredible history and stories of indigenous\npeople. The Sacred Canoe is a beautiful example of how history can be brought\nto life as a tool for education and inspiration. The power of art, theatre and\nmusic crosses all cultures and speaks to who we are as human beings and the\nconnection we have to each other. What a wonderful learning experience the\nSacred Canoe project has been for the students of Sacred Heart and the entire community.\nI wish you all the best of luck as the Canoe travels to Ottawa. I have no doubt\nit will serve as an inspirational reminder of the work that still remains as we\njourney towards truth and reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student leader Julia Mallory\ndrove this point home, paying tribute to the Sacred Heart student body\u2019s\n\u201cincredible ideas, awesome leadership skills and outstanding teams behind them\nreally pushing them to do remarkable things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe community is fractured,\u201d\nshe said. \u201cThere isn\u2019t that one family feeling that you get when you see Sacred\nHeart and you will see that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir A peaceful portage, bringing together the artistic talents of dozens of local students, set out for Aurora on Tuesday night on the path towards Truth & Reconciliation. The Sacred Canoe, a multidisciplinary art project spearheaded by students of Newmarket\u2019s Sacred Heart Catholic High School, was launched in a spectacular fashion last Tuesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2019-03-25-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-652","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 08:28:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}