Cultural artwork unveiled at St. Paul Portage College campus

ST. PAUL – A one-of-a-kind piece of art was unveiled at the St. Paul Portage College campus on April 23, with college staff members, students, and other supporters on hand to admire the artwork.

The piece is called “The Seven Sacred Grandfather Teachings of Turtle Island,” and was created by students of the Aboriginal Arts program at Portage College. According to a plaque installed next to the artwork, the piece honours “our grandfather teachings that has been passed down from generation to generation.”

Students involved in the project include Lana Gal, Lester St. Arnault, Bertha Dewolf-Auger, Tralynn Ganter, Bernadette Laboucan and Sarah Fedoruk. Instructor Ruby Sweetman helped lead the group.

The project was commissioned by Portage College Community Relations and created in partnership with the college and Canadian Natural.

Speaking during the unveiling ceremony was Robert Rayko, cultural and community facilitator for Portage College.

“A little bit of history about the project – Portage college has made a commitment to Truth and Reconciliation… and this is just one piece of it,” said Rayko. He also acknowledged the college’s president Nancy Broadbent, who has been a leader on the institution’s journey of truth and reconciliation, along with other staff at the post-secondary institution.

“Today, you’re going to see a beautiful piece of artwork that has been created by our second-year Aboriginal Art students,” said Rayko. 

Following a prayer by elder Betty Ann Cardinal, who said she was also honoured to be part of the day’s events, Broadbent spoke. 

“I really just want to thank the students that helped with this. This journey has taken, I think, about two years… and there were lots of events where were able to talk about truth and reconciliation… and out of that share with folks the ability for them to express their thoughts about what truth and reconciliation means.”

Broadbent noted that even if people don’t understand the significance of “the truth,” they will be able to appreciate the cultural aspect when they see the artwork.

Speaking on behalf of the student group, Ganter noted that cultural appropriation was a topic that has been discussed a lot over. She acknowledged that she, and some of the students, are “baby learners,” and she said it was nice to connect with students who were farther along in their journey, sharing fundamentals that should have been learned as children.

The piece focuses on a variety of topics, with Turtle Island taking centre stage – “the land that we come from,” said Ganter. The Indigenous languages of Cree, Michif, and Dene are also honoured in the piece.

“It was a two-year process of just learning, just trying ot get things together, figuring out how all of our ideas would be cohesive in one idea… it was a labour of love,” said Ganter.