THUNDER BAY — A new mural has been unveiled at Lakehead University's Bora Laskin Faculty of Law ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Designed and painted by artists at Neechee Studio, the piece is titled "Where the Heart Gathers" and features Mount McKay in the centre with an anatomical-yet-artistic heart in the middle of it.
Featured prominently in the Indigenous Law Students Associations space, this is a room that Indigenous students use for studying, for feasts, crafts and other purposes.
Jada Ferris and Corrina McKay were two artists who worked on the commissioned piece. They described the mural as something that brings together a sense of community, which is how Ferris felt during this, as it was her first time working collaboratively with other artists.
McKay noted the thunderbird in the night sky, and the yellow drum vibrations over the mountain help bridge one side of the mural to the other.
Law school dean Jula Hughes, said that staff, students and more have been excited about the mural.
"The students have been very much looking forward to having this piece of art here. The mural has been a hope for the space for a very long time.
"Finding homes for Indigenous students, Indigenous issues, and faculty staff are just very core to what the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law does. And enhancing [this] space in a way that I hope will make students feel like they're welcome, they belong, they own this space that's very important to me, and it's very important to us as a law school community."
After the unveiling, around 25 students and staff held their annual silent march to recognize the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and the Every Child Matters movement at Waverley Park.
Before the march, several speakers shared stories of their time in local residential schools, their experiences during the Sixties Scoop and the intergenerational trauma.
