New medicine wheel mural at Brandon's Riverbank Discovery Centre a chance to share teachings, culture

A new mural at Brandon's Riverbank Discovery Centre is part of a continued journey of weaving Indigenous culture into the city's largest green space, according to some of the people who helped bring it to life.

The freshly painted medicine wheel featuring vibrant red, yellow, black and white quarters surrounding the sacred fire at the nature centre's All Nations Sharing Circle — which includes signs explaining the Seven Sacred Teachings — is meant to inspire community connections, says Florence Halcrow, the program co-ordinator with Ask Auntie.

The outdoor space carries forward Indigenous oral traditions, providing a place to gather for meetings and ceremonies where everyone gets to be heard.

"This was needed down here," said Halcrow, whose program is funded through the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation and offers a range of social supports in the southwestern Manitoba city.

The traditional four-coloured medicine wheel embodies the four directions, and symbolizes balance and interconnection.

The new mural was finished earlier this week, just in time for Truth and Reconciliation Week, which runs Sept. 26 to Oct. 1.

The sharing circle, located next to the Assiniboine River, will host multiple events during Truth and Reconciliation Week, including stories from residential school survivors along with Indigenous teachings and knowledge-sharing.

The circle speaks to the greatest message of Truth and Reconciliation Week — coming together as a community, Halcrow said, and offers an opportunity to share traditions, stories and support. That, in turn, helps to heal from the trauma from residential schools that has scarred generations of Indigenous people in Canada, she said.

Halcrow recruited clients from the city's Blue Door drop-in shelter to help with the medicine wheel project — a way to show that all community members are part of Truth and Reconciliation Week, she said.

"I see that a lot of them are growing, and they followed the traditional culture and they followed the traditional ways," said Halcrow.

"It's very important because we're all one nation and we all share Turtle Island. So I think it's very important to show all the nations."

Conrad Bone, from Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation, north of Brandon, said he helped paint the medicine wheel because it was a chance to showcase his culture.

That cultural connection felt good, he said, and he's looking forward to seeing "[people's] faces when they look at it" as it's showcased during Truth and Reconciliation Week.

Weaving in Indigenous culture

Dean Hammond, the executive director of the Riverbank Discovery Centre, says the organization is committed to celebrating Indigenous culture and traditions year-round at the green space.

That includes the All Nations Sharing Circle, which was built in 2020 as a space for all cultures to use and can be booked free of charge through the centre.

"We like to think that Riverbank is an inclusive and open and welcoming space for everyone," Hammond said.

"The sharing circle really solidifies that," he said. "It's a dedicated space where people can come … to share ideas, knowledge, learnings."

The painting of the new medicine wheel was timed to take place right before Truth and Reconciliation Week.

Hammond said he's glad to have it not only for the week's events, but also year-round.

"We want to do more to incorporate Indigenous relations and reconciliation into the culture of Riverbank," Hammond said.

"This space was used by Indigenous settlers long before anything ever existed here. So we really want to honour … that culture and those traditions."

Halcrow hopes the new mural will be part of sharing teachings.

"I love that the children are going to be coming here, because then [they] could take it home and teach what they learned," Halcrow said.

"Sometimes there are teachings that people miss in the community," she said. But when children learn those teachings, "the medicine will go backwards — where the children are going to be teaching the adults."