Looking into the school’s year, there has been a lot that happened and many opportunities that had been open to me throughout the school year. During this week I was reminded of my work from last year in the ninth grade, and was even given the opportunity to get a hold of the Toolkit I had illustrated for! 

Last year when I was just fresh into Met school, I was told about an opportunity to not only learn about native plants and how they are connected to Indigenous peoples, but also learn about what people are trying to do to work towards restoring what was stolen from this land and place. The toolkit I had designed for was a toolkit about the cultures of Indigenous peoples and even has recipes stored inside of them!

The goal of this fantastic project was for Indigenous children in foster care and foster families to have so that they were able to still learn about their own culture and have their family also learn about the culture that was originally stolen from them. I believe that this is a step in the right direction towards reconciliation, and the truth is that Indigenous peoples were stripped of their own culture back then, so I find it great to know that we are able to create something that will make people feel like they belong in places, as well as around people. 

Not only did I learn a lot about how we as people can work together towards reconciliation, but I was also able to learn about different types of native plants/medicines. And when I had found one I liked, I drew it as a border for the toolkit. 

There will always be a lot for me to learn about, now what will you do every day, and every given moment, to push towards reconciliation?