2026 Program

In the late 1950s and early 1960s youth at the Alberni Indian Residential School on Vancouver Island in British Columbia created paintings that depicted their inner thoughts, cultural knowledge, and artistic potential, under the guidance of a volunteer teacher who at the time worked as a professional artist in the city of Port Alberni. 70 years later, those paintings were gifted to the University of Victoria on the artist’s passing. Survivors who created those paintings in partnership with members of the university worked to repatriate the art to the creators or their families. This local project of reconciliation and healing rose to national prominence through its intersection and support from the commissioners of the TRC. The story of the Survivors and their paintings is part of the TRC Final Report in Volume 6 on Reconciliation, and TRC commemoration funding supported a public feast at which time the paintings were returned to Survivors in 2013. Since that time, this small group of Survivors has mounted exhibitions of their paintings, created national educational curriculum with the Canadian Museum of History, presented at multiple conferences. In 2023 the Alberni IRS Survivors created a non-profit society to promote art and education in the name of reconciliation. Since that time they have hosted annual learning days with school districts, run professional development workshops for teachers, and supported other Survivors in their aspirations in education and art exhibitions.