The first-ever Reconciliation Expo will be held Sunday, September 24th. The event begins at 10:00 am with a 2 km walk that starts at 650 Cambie Street and travels to Strathcona Park. After the walk, there are a host of activities lined up for the day at the Expo that continues till 3:00 pm. The event will include community booths with information about reconciliation, cultural activities as well as presentations by community groups. Along side the events, there will be an area dedicated to local artisans. This is a great opportunity to experience local Indigenous art and culture. There will also be an area for children to play educational games and a space for Indigenous craft making. If you get hungry while there, a variety of Vancouver based food-trucks serving ethnically-diverse foods will be on hand.
The day also features musicians, dance groups and a host of activities and exhibits some of which we’ve set out below. To see a full rundown of events, we invite you to visit reconciliationcanada.ca:
Exhibit: Site Unseen (Gitga’at and West Vancouver Youth – Mural of Merging Voices)
A unique and innovative project supports links between different groups of coastal youth. To deepen the understanding of their unique cultures and lands, students from the District of West Vancouver and the Gitga’at Nation in Hartley Bay worked together to create a large art installation that explores reconciliation among youth.
Exhibit: National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
An exhibit from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation that explores working together for a strong future and better understanding of reconciliation.
Exhibit: Carey Newman’s Witness Blanket (Full-Size Replica)
Inspired by a woven blanket, the Witness Blanket is a large-scale art installation, made out of hundreds of items reclaimed from Residential Schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures including Friendship Centres, band offices, treatment centres and universities, from across Canada. The Witness Blanket stands as a national monument to recognise the atrocities of the Indian Residential School era, honour the children, and symbolise ongoing reconciliation.
Weavers Corner
Facilitated by the Earthand Gleaners Society and a diverse group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous weavers, this will be a tactile, interactive space to learn more about the craft of weaving from multiple cultural perspectives. The space will be hands-on, inviting participants to engage with plants native to this territory and learn more about the social history of weaving.
Kairos Blanket Exercise
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history we’re rarely taught. Developed in response to the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which recommended education on Canadian-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation, the Blanket Exercise covers over 500 years of history.
On-site Mural Painting
The Vancouver Mural Festival will host an interactive mural site where with spray paint where participants can add their message of hope or reconciliation. There will also be several commissioned artists creating pieces during the Expo that aim to capture the energy and experience of the Walk for Reconciliation.
Commitment Gallery
Using the pre-existing infrastructure of the tennis court in Strathcona Park, Reconciliation Canada will facilitate the creation of a temporary Commitment Gallery. This will serve as an opportunity for participants to make a personal pledge towards reconciliation following their participation in the Walk. Commitment Cards will be exhibited on the fence to visually display and celebrate actions.
Tags: Art, Dance, East Vancouver, Exhibits, Indingenous Art, Musicians, Namwayut, Reconciliation, Reconciliation Walk, Strathcona Park, Vancouver, We Are All One
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