Student artwork represents Orange Shirt Day

Benjamin Eklund, a Grade 9 student from St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School artwork will represent Orange Shirt Day this upcoming September 30.

Here is an explanation of his artwork:

To Indigenous peoples, the Eagle symbolizes love and recognizes that love is a great law from the creator. The Eagle flies the highest and carries the prayers to the creator. We all carry the spirit of love; it is with our collective actions of kindness, caring and patience that our prayers of love will invoke the spirit of healing.

“The winner of the Orange Shirt logo identifies an eagle who will wrap its wings around the residential school survivours, their families and all the children that did not make it home,” said Diane Gardipy Indigenous Education Consultant for the Indigenous Education Department at Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools.