The replica Witness Blanket exhibit at Flin Flon City Hall is in its final week of display. A closing ceremony is planned for Saturday.
After over a month on display in council chambers, the exhibit will be dismantled and removed as it reaches the end of its planned exhibit time. The last day for the display will be July 22, where a morning of reflection and celebration is planned.
The closing ceremony will include an opening prayer and performances from local Indigenous groups, including singers and dancers. Granny Willow and the Nemihitowok Hoop Dance Troupe will perform at the closing ceremony, as well as the Northern Lights Women Singers. Attendees will also walk to City Hall for a chance to see the exhibit again before it is taken down and moved, followed by a pipe ceremony at Pioneer Square.
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. July 22 and will take place at Pioneer Square, similar to the opening ceremony for the exhibit which took place June 11.
In the meantime, the exhibit will remain open to the public until the closing day, with council chambers open every day this week until Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., including for the rest of the day following the closing ceremony. The exhibit will be packed up and moved away from Flin Flon and City Hall next week.
The Witness Blanket is a large-scale artwork, consisting of hundreds of items found and reclaimed from former residential school sites across Canada. The items are combined within a cedar frame collage-style and presented as a history lesson to show the impact left behind by the schools. Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw artist Carey Newman, whose family members were taken to residential schools as children, created the project in 2013 and 2014, using hundreds of different items including books, letters, photos, art and other artifacts from 77 different communities across Canada.
“The blanket is a universal symbol of protection. For many of us, it identifies who we are and where we’re from. We wear blankets in ceremony and give them as gifts. Blankets protect our young and comfort our elders,” reads the project’s website.
“The Witness Blanket is a large-scale work of art inspired by a woven blanket. It contains hundreds of items. They were reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada. It stands as a national monument to recognize the atrocities of the Indian residential school era. It honours the children and the survivors. It symbolizes ongoing reconciliation.”
The number for the National Residential School Crisis Line is 1-866-925-4419. The line is open 24 hours per day and is meant to provide support for people affected by residential schools.
