'It's also our fight': Winnipeg art show raises money for Standing Rock
Artist Arlea Ashcroft says the pipeline fight is coming to Canada
Winnipeg artists gathered to sell their wares and show solidarity with Standing Rock on Saturday.
"Art is known as a solidifying tool, it's something that unites people together, it's a way to peacefully protest and it's also a healing tool," said Métis artist Arlea Ashcroft.
The art sale at Fourth Projects on McDermot Avenue showcased works from more than 45 Winnipeg-based artists ranging from paintings, prints, crafts and ceramics. All of the money raised will be sent to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Dakota Access Pipeline donation fund.
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Ashcroft has been to the Standing Rock camps in North Dakota three times and was present a week ago when word spread that the pipeline construction had been halted.
Last Sunday, a spokesperson for the Department of the Army, a federal agency under the U.S. Defence Department, said the administration will not allow the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline to be built under Lake Oahe, a reservoir near the reservation.
Ashcroft said there was disbelief followed by celebrations. However, she added "there is a little bit of weariness that the fight is not over."
"It's one step in the right direction but it doesn't mean that the journey is over yet," she said.
Ashcroft said, in the artist community in Winnipeg, they wanted to continue to show their support.
"[It's about] proximity. It's creativity. It's the fact that in Canada we are going to be fighting the same fight with Kinder Morgan … it's also our fight," she said.
At the end of November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed off on two major pipelines — Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline and Enbridge's Line 3.