Brittany Cherweniuk

Kwécte-kucw te sḰwiyūsems
Take our Grief

About the Artist 

Brittany Cherweniuk is a Métis fine craft artist and instructor, working in textile and fiber arts, endeavoring to create cultural connections and to tell multigenerational stories. She has built her career as an Arts Administrator working in museums, galleries, and non-profit organizations—focusing on curation, program development, youth leadership, traditional Indigenous arts, and sharing Indigenous authentic histories. She currently resides in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Beaver Hills House), commonly known as Edmonton, in Treaty No. 6 Territory. 

About the Work

“Take Our Grief” is created as a memorial piece following the discovery of the 215 unmarked graves at Kamloops Indian Residential School in the spring of 2021. As the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemcs Nation’s (Kamloops Indian Band) story became widely shared, the weight of this discovery was realized by more Canadians. As this heartbreaking chapter in our history is finally given the attention that is truly needed, I feel a compelling need to create and honour those little spirits.  

We now understand that Kamloops was a first in the discoveries of unmarked graves linked to the Indian Residential School system, leading to outrage and a national movement. This tragic event also reminds us to reflect on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, its findings and recommendations, as we collectively move forward as First Peoples of this land and those who now call Canada home.  

This project began with prayer and meditation, and with ideas brought to me in dreams. Upon this reflection, it came to me to use sewing as a tool to channel grief and the other inarticulable feelings into a tangible object, while creating something beautiful and impactful, and baby moccasins were the natural fit.  

I wanted to make something with all the love and care that you would give to sewing a pair of baby moccasins for a new cherished family member. Each piece is done with the specific intention of capturing these tiny beings at a point in their lives before the trauma when they are filled with endless potential. The finished piece has 215 pairs of baby moccasins, made from rainbow felt.   

It was very important that, as an outsider to this community, I introduce myself and the project to Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc and offer appropriate protocols before proceeding with the work. I reached out to Jessica Arnhouse, a member of the  Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc Language and Culture Department, who presented my project to Elders in the community. In early August 2021, I traveled to Kamloops to meet with Jessica and receive the Elders’ feedback. . The Elders gave guidance and assisted me in translating the project name into their traditional dialect: we named the project Kwécte-kucw te sk̓wiyūsems, which means “take our grief, sadness, suffering.” 

I am humbled and cannot express my gratitude enough for my warm welcome. During this visit, I spent time on the Residential School grounds, whose buildings have been transformed into useful spaces for the community and turned into various offices, including the department Language and Culture, and the Secwepemc Museum. The largest building now hosts large a memorial monument for the 215 children outside. After my meeting and visiting, I was invited to the grounds where the graves are located. I would like to thank Diena Jules and Knowledge Keeper Rhona for sharing their time with me and for offering me ceremony when we entered and exited the site.  

In addition to the 215 pairs of baby moccasins, it came to me that part of this larger project was to create two pairs of baby moccasins that would go back to the community. I made these pairs while traveling to Kamloops and this action created a sense of going home. The first pair, orange wool felt with abstract needle felting, invokes memories of being the mountains, embellished with embroidery that give them an ethereal feel. The second pair is cornflower blue wool felt with needle felting and stitching to create a scene that is reminiscent of reflections in mountain lakes and twilight skies.  

Something unexpected happened when the piece was almost complete and I started working with the individual pairs to be photographed and mounted. Tiny personalities started to emerge—the turn of a toe, the lift of a heel, a slight shift of weight\. This brings me back to the purpose of this project: this is a specific memorial piece that is made for children affected by the Residential School legacy in Canada. How can we as Canadian Citizens, Indigenous, non-Indigenous, and allies stand together and share this burden of grief and knowing? “Take my Grief” is a piece that is created out of love and the endless possibility of a generation that never was. We must take this responsibility and promise to move forward with compassion, understanding, and fierce determination to make real change.  The physical work will be exhibited in-person when it is safe to do so.

Acknowledgments and Special Thanks

I would like to acknowledge Jessica Arnouse and Ted Gottfriedson, Diena Jules, and with Knowledge Keeper Rhona Bowe for being so welcoming and hospitable during my visit to Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc, along with the wisdom and guidance from the nation’s Elders Committee.  

I would like to acknowledge Maria Linkalater, who was the person who taught us to make this style of moccasins and share them with others.  

I would like to thank my mother Sharon Rose Kootenay, for her encouragement and sharing her studio with me while I worked on this project. Without you I don’t know if I would be brave enough to work on a project like this.  

Lastly, I would like to thank my partner Scott for all of the wonderful support while I worked on this project, from coming with me to Kamloops, making me cups of tea, to accepting that our living space would be full of tiny moccasins while I work.  

take my grief: the Burden of truth

Brittany Cherweniuk created the 2021 installation project, “Take My Grief” to memorialize and honour the 215 children whose remains were found on the grounds of the Kamloops Residential School, the place to which the children of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemcs were taken from their families and never returned. The online launch of Brittany’s installation on Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which also happens to be Orange Shirt Day in Canada, gestures peacefully and profoundly to all residential school survivors, to all who have in their chests a beating heart, and to Phyllis Webstad, herself a member of the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation and survivor of St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Phyllis’s orange shirt, taken from her on her first day at St. Joseph’s Residential School, has taken on a profound weight as a symbol of the theft of culture, language, freedom, and self-worth from Indigenous children.  

If you are moved by the sight of 215 miniscule moccasins, please help the survivors of the Kamloops Residential School and all survivors of all other residential schools in Canada by committing to taking their grief and bearing some of the ongoing weight of their trauma. As Brittany continues to immerse herself in memorializing the 215 children since the discovery of their remains on May 27th, 2021, please wear an Orange Shirt on September 30th to show your compassion for Canada’s Indigenous peoples. Brittany followed proper protocols in meeting with the Elders and others in the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemcs Nation. The burden of truth about Canada’s Residential Schools falls squarely on our churches and our governments, specifically the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the United Church, the Methodist Church, and the Anglican Church, and specifically all governing bodies throughout Canada’s history, including those predating Confederation in 1867. Though the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario and other residential schools opened before Confederation, it was the confederation of our nation that facilitated the systematic seizure of Indigenous children from our families and communities in the colonizing and Christianising effort to dismantle and erase our cultures. Perhaps you are an Indigenous person and a survivor of Canada’s Indian Residential School system. If so, know that we carry your grief with you. If you fear a backlash from those who willfully deny the truth of your grief, please persevere and reach out for help if you need it. You can call the Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1(866) 925-4419. This support line is available to you 24 hours per day.  

If you are a settler and struggling to come to terms with your settler privilege, please know that you may not be directly responsible, but you may have inherited some benefits denied to Indigenous children. Know also that we are all treaty people, which means that every Canadian, no matter how short or long you have lived on this great land, is a treaty person and each of us bears a responsibility to enact our treaty obligations. Learn in what treaty territory you reside. Learn who your Indigenous neighbours are and what Indigenous nations reside near you. Get to know, really know, Indigenous people and take a sincere interest in what their experience is. Study an Indigenous language. Read a book written by an Indigenous author. These are some tangible and direct actions you can take on your own personal truth and reconciliation journey. Some important books written by Indigenous authors include the following: 

Joseph, Bob. 21 Things You Didn’t Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make  

Reconciliation With Indigenous People a Reality. 

Thistle, Jess. From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way.  

Talaga, Tanya. Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City. 

Good, Michelle. Five Little Indians. 

Johnson, Harold R. Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada. 

McLeod, Harrold J. Mamaskatch.  

Teillet, Jean. The North-West is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel’s People, the Métis Nation. 

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. They Came for the Children: Canada,  

Aboriginal Peoples, and Residential Schools. 

Merasty, Joseph Auguste. The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir. 

Campbell, Nicola I. Shi-shi-etko. 

Robertson, David. When We Were Alone. 

Robertson, David. Sugar Falls.  

Loyie, Larry. Goodbye Buffalo Bay. 

Wagamese, Richard. Medicine Walk.  

Two important books about the history of Canada’s Residential Schools written by non-Indigenous authors are: 

Miller, J.R. Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. 

Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School  

System, 1879-1996.  

There are many other books by Indigenous authors, and this is just a beginning list of possibilities for you to continue your education about the truth and the triumphs of Indigenous peoples over Residential Schools.  

As Brittany so capably exemplifies, art is a healthy strategy for expressing grief. Brittany’s project gives us all permission to grieve, to cry, to wrestle with the truth, and to reach out to each other for support. If you are experiencing grief because of your own Residential School trauma or from any other trauma resulting from racism or other colonial injustice, in addition to calling the Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1(866) 925-4419, consider expressing your grief through art, through song, through prayer, through poetry, or through your own special talent. Maybe you manage your grief by holding tight to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Maybe you manage your grief by visiting with your four-legged and two-winged friends in nature. Maybe you manage your grief by cooking with traditional ingredients and traditional practices. Know that your strength has carried you this far and that our cultures are alive with possibility! 

As you experience Brittany’s art installation, take your time because the truth cannot be rushed. When we enter the open doorway of truth, we venture into the expansive opportunities for reconciliation. If you are a Residential School survivor on this Orange Shirt Day in Canada in 2021, know that you are not alone, that you are important, and that you will heal. If you are a settler on this Orange Shirt Day in Canada in 2021, know that you are with us, you are important in this process of truth and reconciliation, and that you can help us heal.  

Naomi McIlwraith

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