Truth, art and reconciliation
In his youth, aboriginal artist Aaron Paquette was captivated with the paintings by Sylvie Nadeau that hang along one wall of the cavernous tunnel in the Grandin LRT Station in downtown Edmonton.
Commissioned in 1989 by a local francophone group, the artwork celebrated the life of Bishop Vidal Grandin, a missionary who helped create and run residential schools.
“I grew up with the mural and loved it,” says Paquette, who became an artist and activist for native rights. “It expressed to me that my ancestors walked here.”
Later, as abuses within the residential school system came to light, Nadeau’s paintings were unintentionally seen as something else — a reminder of a dark and terrible place in time.
“Sylvie’s work always came from the right place in her heart, but for 20 years she became an easy target of people’s anger and embarrassment,” Paquette said Friday, as a collaboration between him and Nadeau was unveiled in the transit station nearest the legislature. “I was glad to work with her.
“It was a history we were all kept in the dark about.”
Working in a partnership for two years, Paquette and Nadeau created works that were partially underwritten by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that convenes in Edmonton on March 27 as part of a healing exercise for victims of residential schools.
Stretching 25 metres along the station’s east wall, Paquette’s series of colourful panels are called the Stations of Reconciliation and depict symbols that have been sacred to aboriginals for 10,000 years. Complementing his work, Nadeau added panels to her original installation on the opposite side of the track.
“There was a time of darkness, and now hopefully there will be a time of light,” Nadeau said.
Ignoring trains that rumbled past, several hundred people gathered inside the station for the unveiling on Friday. Partners in the project included Francophonie jeunesse de l’Alberta, the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Arts Council.
“To change the future, we first must learn the truth of the past,” Edmonton Coun. Tony Caterina said during the presentation.
Among those in attendance was Terry Lusty, a Métis elder originally from Manitoba who finds meaning in the murals.
A resident of Edmonton for 20 years, he was taken from his family at age three and spent eight years in residential schools.
“It is important to remember the past because it is reflected in the present,” said Lusty, 72, who wrote a poem, Just Kids, that he brought to Friday’s event.
“As a survivor I will never forget what happened to me, no matter how much I doctor myself. But I still have the ability to forgive.
“Basically, we grew up without a childhood. We were just innocent kids.”