On the weekend of Truth and Reconciliation Day, the statutory federal day also known as Orange Shirt Day, Danny Cram was creating copper metalwork in the shape of a leaf at the historic Fort 91原创 site, using the technique of repoussage, or chasing, where a malleable metal is shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in low relief.
Art, Cram explained, was one of the ways Indigenous people have reclaimed their cultural heritage after residential schools sought to extinguish it.
"Copper was extremely valued as a cultural source of material for the Indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest," said Cram, a Fort 91原创 resident and historical re-enactor who usually does blacksmithing demonstrations.
"They made enormous numbers of socially, culturally valuable items," Cram added. "The artwork and the design of Pacific Northwest art has played a huge role in the reestablishment of Indigenous culture."
Historic Fort 91原创 was free Saturday as the site marked the weekend of Truth and Reconciliation Day
鈥� 91原创 Advance Times (@91原创Times)
Admission was free on the day, which aimed to honour the children who never returned home and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.
There was a presentation in the Fort theatre by Len Pierre, from Len Pierre Consulting, an Indigenous leadership, innovation, and transformation consulting group, about the history behind the day.
A Fort schedule described it as a "discussion of colonial Canada in a safe and inclusive environment ...offering "practical insights to inspire hope and further reconciliation," followed by a question-and-answer session.
Prior to speaking at the fort, Pierre talked in an online post about the need to spare school survivors from recounting the painful details on the day so they don't have to "share the trauma of their lives."
"We, as the next generation, do what we can do, to drive that conversation forward," Pierre said.
Visitors to the fort could look at the M茅tis Nation B.C. exhibit in the Big House; watch Indigenous videos in the theatre; and make an Orange Shirt Day button.
