To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the signing of Treaty 6, the City of Prince Albert officially dedicated the new public artwork Passage Home and Healing Park, located at Scarrow Plaza near the Prince Albert Provincial Courthouse.
This City of Prince Albert public art acquisition project was undertaken in collaboration with artist Mary Longman, a renowned Saulteaux artist from Gordon’s First Nation.
The bronze sculpture is based on the form of a traditional akotâpân (travois), symbolically offering safe passage for children to return to their families and territories of origin and to rest in peace.
Longman said that the apprehensions of Indigenous children impact everybody across Canada.
“Saskatchewan, as you know, has the highest rate of child apprehensions of Indigenous children,” Longman said. “It addresses a wide audience, but also a very specific audience in Prince Albert. That’s the importance of it…. (It) gets the message out, but it’s also something tangible that we can do.”
During her speech, Longman made specific calls for action to improve the foster care system. Longman called it the continued mass apprehension of Indigenous children by child and family services and social services.
“It’s pretty common knowledge that a lot of abuses and neglects have gone on in
foster homes,” Longman said.
She explained that she and her seven siblings were part of the system and her brothers worked on farms.
“I was an Indigenous Cinderella for a foster family,” she said. “I looked after the kids, did all the housework and all that stuff. They put me to work delivering papers, delivering flowers, this and that, and they just collected all of the money.”
She said Sixties Scoop survivors all have stories and only the odd person does not have a negative story.
People looked at the statue ‘Passage Home’ before the dedication ceremony on Saturday at Scarrow Park.
“Because I was born in the 60s, there wasn’t a lot of screening,” Longman said. ‘Anybody could take their kids, and that was part of the problem.”
Longman said that has been rectified somewhat with foster parents having to take an Indigenous training culture course, but there still need to be improvements.
Passage Home is a bronze memorial sculpture situated within a public healing park.
Together, the sculpture and park serve as a memorial healing site and community gathering place dedicated to Indigenous children who died away from home, and to those who continue finding their way home because of day schools, residential schools and the Sixties Scoop.
Longman said she met with the public arts working group in Scarrow Park and asked her if she would be interested in collaborating. The theme and concept were open-ended, which Longman appreciated.
“I went home and did a bunch of sketches, thought about it, and I kind of knew that I was going to do something with Travois because I already had a couple images in my sketchbook,” Longman said.
“But when I’ve seen the ones carrying the kids, boy, they’re almost haunting (with) the kids looking out at the photographer. I just thought, what a powerful image, now that would work for this for the Indigenous children concept.”
The work also honours Survivors and family members who continue to grieve and heal today.
The park was prepared first and features a path that winds through like a stream to the North Saskatchewan River.
“The sidewalk flows like the river to the river the passage connects to the passage, I didn’t want like a linear path,” Longman said.
She said the goal was to have the path meander through to River Street and then to the river itself. She said it is more peaceful and the layout of the park is a critical element. The trees and plants will eventually fill in the healing garden space.
Once the trees grow the path will be surrounded by giant glazed maples. Longman said in the fall the maples will turn red and play off the path.
“It’s going to look great when it matures,” Longman said.
After the park work was completed, she designed the travois in Photoshop without too much detail. She said that the plasma cutter could not get feathers and instead substituted leaves because the detail was too miniscule. She explained that she created it to symbolize giving children roots
“In other words, don’t disconnect them from the roots, right? Give them love … because that is going to give them wings ultimately,” Longman said.
The piece was then sent to China to be built using a 3D Printer method because it was too complex to be completed in a foundry. This allowed Longman make the Travois poles 18 feet as originally planned instead of 15.
“I wanted to have a little bit more impact.” Longman said.
The piece was rapid professionally scanned by a company from Alberta before being sent to China. Longman said China is far ahead in the 3D Printing field and this allowed her to cut down costs significantly.
“That’s why they were able to pull it off in three months compared to a couple years with our foundries,” Longman said.
“They printed out the large scale and then cast it in bronze and then I had very specific information, instructions about exactly how I wanted my patina to be and they followed it to a T.”
For generations, Indigenous Peoples of the Plains transported children and belongings using an akotâpân, originally pulled by an atim (dog) and later by a misatim (horse). Traditionally lined with bison hides, the travois provided children with a soft and secure place during travel.
Longman said that she was happy to see the piece in Prince Albert because of the importance of Prince Albert as ‘The Great Meeting Place’.
“I’m very happy to see it here and I can see that, there’s healing that needs to be done around here too, and amongst Indigenous people and I’m hoping that this will be a place to bring people together.”
During her speech Longman brought up the recent incident with the finding of Peyton Flett and how trauma continues to exist in the present as much as it did in the past.
Mayor Bill Powalinsky was pleased to see the piece in Scarrow Park.
“It’s one of those things where it symbolizes both the journey as well as the efforts for truth and reconciliation,” Powalinsky said. “It certainly brings to mind the challenges that people have had in recovering from the Sixties Scoop and from residential schools.
“This is a very significant art piece and a very moving art piece,” Powalinsky added.
Longman thanked the funders and organizations who helped make this project possible, including the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, SK Arts, Sask Lotteries, SaskCulture, Northern Lights Community Development Corporation, and Common Weal Community Arts.
“I want to really congratulate the group that put this together, (and) our artist Dr. Longman,” Powalinsky said. “It’s an outstanding piece. It’ll be here for a long, long time to help people arrive at understanding of what Truth and Reconciliation is all about.”
The event was emceed by Aaliyah Flett and Mann Art Gallery Interim Artistic Director Jesse Campbell. Speakers included Mary Longman, George Gordon First Nation Chief Shawn Longman, Judy MacLeod Campbell of the City of Prince Albert and Judy McNaughton of Common Weal and Powalinsky. Elder Liz Settee opened the event with a prayer.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
