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N AT I O N A L DAY FO R
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION SEPTEMBER 30
SHARING - LEARNING - HEALING
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026 | A15
A16 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026
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NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
A day to honour healing journeys and restore culture MICHELLE GEORGE
Contributing writer
When thinking about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Orange Shirt Day), I first think of trauma and loss.
On my mother’s side, my family experienced residential school and the Sixties Scoop. My mother and siblings were separated through residential school and foster care. To this day, not all my family has met each other. My grandmother went to residential school and did a really good job of making it a place she could live and learn. But she was removed far away from home – she was born in the Fraser Valley and put in Penelakut Island (formerly Kuper Island) – and like most of her fellow students, there often wasn’t a chance to go home. Everyone who attended residential school was just trying to survive these traumatic
Tsleil-Waututh Nation member Michelle George wears orange for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. ANDY PREST / NSN experiences. Considering these family members influenced my life and how I grew up, a lot of the impacts of residential school stayed with us – they were brought home.
Various traditional practices, such as drumming and singing, were a challenge to keep alive because the residential school system tried to erase our culture. Since we lived so close to the city,
Indian Agents were always just down the road. Back then, gathering in a group larger than your family was considered illegal. Our kids wonder why our grandparents don’t teach us hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ language; it’s because our language and culture were beaten out of them. When you’re scared your children will face the same consequences, it’s not easy to bring forward culture and language. It’s the same for food, for family relations – our ways of life. Enduring 150 years of the residential school system while pushing for change over the last 40 years has been no easy task. Today, səlilwətaɬ (TsleilWaututh Nation) runs programs led by staff who help members through their journeys. We offer cultural practices and knowledge sharing in spaces like gardens, so members have a chance to heal and learn from one another. Everyone is in different stages of
their healing journey; residential schools affected everyone in different ways. This year on Orange Shirt Day, we’re gathering, sharing food, and celebrating each other’s company. Since we weren’t allowed to do those things during residential school, this is how we’re supporting our People’s healing journeys. I think it’s important for the broader public to be informed of colonialism and residential schools and day schools and their intergenerational impacts. Take a deep dive in a book on the topic, walk through a museum exhibit, or speak with an Indigenous group about it. Staying open minded when working with Indigenous peoples and expressing empathy go a long way. This ties into the next seven generations: educating our Tsleil-Waututh People on Continued on A19
NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
September 30 A message from the North and West Vancouver Associations
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026 | A17
TRUTH & RECONCILIATION SEPT
Book Talk: Tiná7 Cht Ti Temíxw: We Come From This Land
SEPT
SEPT
Indigenous History & Culture Series
SEPT
SEPT
Film Screening: Dancing Around the Table
SEPT
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SEPT
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North Vancouver City Library Squamish journalist Kwetásel’wet (Stephanie Wood) and Elder Paítsmuk David Jacobs discuss the making of Tiná7 Cht Ti Temíxw: We Come From This Land, sharing snapshots of the Nation’s history.
North Vancouver City Library The first session in a three-part series on local Indigenous history and culture focuses on truth and reconciliation. Additional sessions take place Oct. 17 and Nov. 28.
MONOVA Watch the 1980s film documenting constitutional negotiations between Indigenous leaders with the Canadian governments and revealing the fight for inherent rights and self-government at a pivotal moment in Canadian history.. Admission is pay what you can.
Orange Shirt Day Gathering at 11 a.m.
North Vancouver RCMP Detachment Gather at the Strength and Remembrance Pole to honour residential school survivors and the children who never came home.
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COMMUNITY EVENTS
ON THE NORTH SHORE
Truth & Reconciliation Day 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
MONOVA Take part in hands-on activities, guided tours and games led by Indigenous cultural programmers Jordan Dawson and Tsawaysia Spukwus. Admission is pay what you can.
Reconciliation Table Talk & Beading Workshop
Lynn Valley Library Join NVDPL Indigenous Creator in Residence Cheyenne Hood for a table talk about reconciliation in modern times, followed later that afternoon by a creative workshop to craft your own beaded keychain.
Film Screening: Aberdeen
West Vancouver Memorial Library A feature drama telling the story of an Indigenous climate change refugee forced from her home following a flood.
Films for Truth & Reconciliation 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Polygon Gallery The North Vancouver gallery is screening films from the National Film Board of Canada for another year to honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Sisters & Brothers, Holy Angels, Round Up, Second Stories - It Had to Be Done, First Stories - Apples & Indians, To Wake Up the Nakota Language and Birth of A Family will play on a continuous loop during the gallery’s hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LEARN • LISTEN • REFLECT • CONNECT Visit the participating organizations for event details and registration
Honouring Truth and Reconciliation
On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we honour the strength of residential school survivors, remember those who never returned home, and stand with their families. Neptune Terminals values the traditional knowledge and stewardship of the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Peoples. We are proud to operate on their traditional territories and are committed to learning and walking the path of reconciliation with respect and humility. September 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
neptuneterminals.com
A18 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026
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NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
West Van exhibit highlights Indigenous beaded dog blankets ABBY LUCIANO
aluciano@nsnews.com Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
An exhibition in West Vancouver is amplifying an almost lost practice from Northern Indigenous communities – the crafting of beaded dog sled blankets.
Tāpis: A Love Letter to Our Dog Kin is the latest exhibit at the Ferry Building Gallery, showcasing nine intricate dog blankets made by four Indigenous artists. “It is with great pride to be able to showcase this exhibit,” said Cree and Métis artist Adele Arseneau. “It has been created to show the beauty and celebration of dog regalia as completed by Michif, Dene and other Nations to celebrate our valued dog kin.” Tāpis are decorated blankets to drape over sled dogs, symbolizing respect. Also called li tāpis by the French Métis and tuppies by the English and Scottish Métis, the blankets are made from wool, with each one carrying unique details in bead work, silk embroidery, moose or caribou hair tufting and bells.
Adele Arseneau, a Cree and Métis multidisciplinary artist, holds one of her blankets outside the Ferry Building Gallery. ABBY LUCIANO / NSN
In the Northern Prairies, the blankets served many purposes. They were used to keep dogs warm, to announce the arrival of a dog team into a village and identify people at a distance, said Arseneau. “A mile away, you could hear the dog blankets,” she said. The exhibit is an ongoing effort to revive the blanket tradition and rebuild cultural
knowledge, which nearly disappeared due to colonization and the residential school system. Arseneau began learning about tāpis in 2023 through a mentorship with Velma Olson, a beader of Northern Tutchone, Han and G’wichen descent living in Mayo, a small town in the Yukon. Learning from Olson, Arseneau spent hours making a blue tāpis with snowflakes and flowers for her late purebred Alaskan Malemute Nīcimos. “At that point, there were only two people who made dog blankets that I knew of,” Arseneau said. With a lack of teachers who held knowledge in the practice, Arseneau decided it needed to be revitalized, inspiring her to lead a 20-week online residency. She received a grant to make it possible and taught four Indigenous beaders to create blankets to honour their own pups. “I didn’t want people to have to pay for this knowledge, I want to make it accessible,” she said. The West Vancouver exhibit features a cohort of Arseneau’s students – Dominique Caron, Danielle Courcelles and Suzan
Kostiuk – all crafting their own blanket. Each blanket took more than 200 hours to complete, Arseneau said, including her own.
Blankets on display Arseneau has six pieces in the exhibit, including the first one she created in her mentorship. The blanket, Flowers for Nīcimos, was inspired by her Métis background and the history of Indigenous dogs. In May 1885, Arseneau’s great-great grandmother had to dispatch her team of dogs to ensure the safety of the women with her during the occupation of Batoche. Often mistaken for Huskies, malemutes are an old breed originally created by the Mahlmut Inuit, Arseneau said. They were nearly wiped out due to the Gold Rush in the 1800s, when loose dogs were shot on site and bred with imported dogs. Kostiuk, an artist from the Acho Dene Koe First Nation in Fort Liard, Northwest Territories., created a blanket for her brindle pouch, Lou. Lou came into Kostiuk’s life at a crucial Continued on A19
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026 | A19
NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
Artist holding classes to revive art form that was nearly forgotten
Continued from A18 time. After her mom and stepmom died unexpectedly last year, Kostiuk drove up to the Northwest Territories from Vancouver Island to attend the memorial. When coming back, her brother surprised her with a message asking if she wanted a puppy that was available in Dawson Creek, where they grew up. “He’s been a huge part of healing and dealing with my parents’ deaths over the past year,” Kostiuk said. “It was really nice to have a blanket that really understood that relationship we have with our dogs. We do rely on them quite a bit.” Lou’s Peace River Blanket has blue flowers with a traditional five petal Dene design, intertwining her background and the colour of Lou’s collar when she first got him. Before meeting Arseneau, Kostiuk didn’t know much about the blanket practice. She learned the basics of two-needle beading from her mother, but was never able to keep up with it as the business of life always got in the way. So when she began learning from Arseneau, it felt like a missing piece of knowledge. “I’m really happy with it,” Kostiuk said. “I didn’t think I was capable of creating something like this.” Kostiuk’s blanket also gives a glimpse into the country’s dark history. Six empty casings are on the blanket, representing the RCMP’s role in the killing of sled dogs. In 2019, the federal government apologized to the Inuit in Nunavut for the killing of sled dogs, forced relocations and family separation that happened between 1950 to 1975. The federal government also apologized to the Inuit in northern Quebec in 2024 for the killing of sled dogs in the region in the 1950s and 1960s, offering $45 million to help implement programs promoting healing and cultural revitalization.
Culture coming back
Continued from A16 what happened and how our community is choosing to strengthen our language, culture, and family connections to help our People succeed. Being on the land and waters, pursuing traditional activities, and being a part of multigenerational visits to our former village sites are all ways of healing. I love how our kids are picking up the paddle or a drum and choosing a healthier way of being. We’re all relearning how our ancestors walked with the animals and plants, moved with the seasons, and took care of themselves and one another. Working within our Nation’s new Language, Culture, and Protocol Department, my team and I are embedding culture and language in various aspects of our work, to benefit our community, our staff, and our relationships with our external partners. For Indigenous people, it needs to be in the way we walk and the way we talk, because it is who we are. Michelle George is the deputy director, Language, Culture, and Protocol Department for səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation).
“Education is important, so people realize this is part of our history,” Kostiuk said. Arseneau is passing the baton so others can continue to teach the tāpis tradition. So far, the multidisciplinary artist has taught 10 people and hopes to see more learn the practice in the future. Standing in the room full of tāpis at the Ferry Building Gallery, her heart feels full. “If you saw a puppy with bells [jingling], wouldn’t that make you smile? You can’t help but feel joy,” she said.
“This was almost erased. [It’s important] to acknowledge that this is such an amazing thing to have and it should be nurtured, encouraged and revitalized,” she added. “It’s important to me that we replace what was broken, so that’s what I’m trying to do.” Tāpis: A Love Letter to our Dog Kin is on at the Ferry Building Gallery until Oct. 4. Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION and ORANGE SHIRT DAY
We honour survivors, remember the history, and reflect on the legacy of residential schools