In observation of tomorrow’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Canada Post has released four stamps from Indigenous artists, showcasing their visions of what Truth and Reconciliation looks like.
Kim Gullion Stewart, an instructor at CNC who teaches Fine Art and Metis Studies, was one of the four artists from across Canada chosen to design a stamp.
She told My Nechako Valley Now that three artists from Indigenous communities, First Nations, Inuit, and Metis, as well as one settler artist who organized the campaign, each designed one stamp that showcases their idea of Truth and Reconciliation.
When combined, she said all the stamps “work together as a group to show cohesiveness and the idea that in a circle, we can work together as a community.”
Stewart designed the bottom right stamp of the collection in a Metis art style.
In the her description of the stamp published by Canada Post, Stewart said: “Flowers in MĂ©tis art remind people to live in a symbiotic way with land, waterways, ecosystems and one another.
In this piece I have placed beaded flowers on top of contour lines representing the Rocky Mountains, twisty lines for rivers and dashes demarking political territories.
While maps like this one are a two-dimensional record of historical process and places, they are incomplete until they include elements that are important to the people who are Indigenous on this continent.”
“It was a real honour. I was super grateful to be able to lend my artwork as a voice for the Metis Nation in this really important topic” Stewart said.
Tomorrow is Canada’s second National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
Stewart said the day is hugely important.
“Honestly, I never thought I would see the day that we, as a country, would be able to set aside time to think about and talk about healing our communities.”
She added that while the day is focused on learning about the past and listening, it should also be about moving forward to become a “we, instead of an us and them.”
Stewart lived in Prince George for 22 years with her husband where she raised her family. She taught in person at CNC for 17 of them, and still teaches there remotely.
For more information on the project and the other three stamps, you can also click here.