(City of Lacombe)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

'affinity for one another'

New art piece in Lacombe acknowledges roots of the land and reconciliation

Sep 27, 2020 | 12:02 PM

A new art piece in Lacombe will hopefully be seen as a gesture of reconciliation, an official with the municipality says.

‘Miweyihtowin’ — meaning ‘affinity for one another’ — was unveiled Saturday during the city’s 8th annual Culture and Harvest Festival.

Located on the northwest corner of the traffic circle at College Avenue and C&E Trail, it was designed by two senior students from Mamawi Atosketan Native School in Ponoka.

Tessa Potts and Eileen Firingstoney were originally going to create the piece for a school project, but the pandemic led to an opportunity for it to be a commissioned work as well as summertime employment. With help from welding instructor Michael Willing, they each put in over 150 hours to complete it.

“It is a metal sculpture of two rough grouse, with two logs; the female is sitting on one log and the male is landing at the end of the other,” explains Maureen MacKenzie, community services executive assistant with The City of Lacombe. “It was created to represent the affinity between rough grouse, but also that people have for one another. It also represents the two communities and local First Nations.”

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According to a release, grouse was an important food source for settlers and Indigenous peoples when bison populations dwindled across the prairies. The piece also pays homage to settler and Indigenous communities living and working together across Canada’s west.

MacKenzie adds The City had a robust anti-racism program planned earlier this year, but once again COVID-19 caused its postponement. The program was meant for large groups and would’ve included the blanket exercise, a 60s Scoop exhibition, and other workshops.

“The last census in 2016 indicated we have over 800 residents of Lacombe who are Indigenous, which is almost 10 per cent of our population, so it’s really important we show we’re willing to walk the walk,” MacKenzie says. “We as a city want to embrace all of our cultures, and in this instance, with truth and reconciliation in mind, our plan is to host those workshops eventually, and that’s our way of saying we’re taking action on inclusion and racism.”

‘Miweyihtowin’ was created at a cost of $18,000.