A Window to the Future

Location of window in Parliament Buildings

In 2008, the government of Canada formally apologized to former students of Indian Residential schools.  As part of this apology, as a gesture of reconciliation, it commissioned a stained glass window to commemorate the legacy of these schools.  A number of Indigenous artists in Canada, submitted designs for the windows.  The design of Metis artist Christi Belcourt was chosen.  The finished window was permanently installed in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill over the door that the MP’s use to enter and exit the building.

The window is entitled  "Giniigaaniimenaaning" which means 'Looking Ahead'

Christi Belcourt

At the dedication ceremony for the window in Nov. 2012 in Ottawa, Belcourt talked about her inspiration for the design of the window entitled  "Giniigaaniimenaaning" which means "Looking Ahead".  This edited version of the government website is from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Summary.  These are Christi’s words:

“The stories of residential school students were never told in this building, so I’m going to tell you one now… I asked Lucille [Kelly-Davis] who is a residential school survivor what she wanted to see on the window.  I had assisted her through the residential school settlement process, and like so many survivors, her story is horrific… Despite her childhood, she married ,had four children and now has many grandchildren.  She is a pipe carrier, attends traditional ceremonies, and helps younger people learn the traditions.  She’s a powerful Anishnabeg grandmother who is generous, loving and caring, and gives all she can to her community and her family.  She is not a victim, but a survivor.  When I asked her what to put on the window, she said, 'Tell our side of the story.'… She said, 'make it about hope.'… It’s about looking ahead, as the name of the window says, ‘giniigaaniimenaaning’ looking to the future for those yet unborn…"

"Because she told me to make it about hope, what I’ve tried to show in the design is all the positive things I’ve seen in my life.  Despite residential schools, children, adults, and Elders dance in full regalia in celebration of who they are as Indigenous people.  We see Metis youth learning fiddling and jigging with pride across the country.  We see arenas full of Inuk Elders drum dancing, with little kids running around, speaking Inuktitut.  We see whole communities come together in times of joy and in times of great grief.  The lodges are growing, the traditional songs are being sung, the ceremonies are being taught, and the ceremonies are still practiced."

"I wish I could show the government that reconciliation has the potential to be so much more.  I wish I could convince them that reconciliation is not an unattainable goal.  If there’s the will and the courage to discard old paternalistic ways of thinking and of behaviour.  We need action, and where we need action, don’t meet us with silence.  Where we need support, don’t accuse us of being a burden… I wish I could speak to the hearts of MPs, whether Conservative, or NDP, or Liberal, and let them know that renewal and reconciliation can be found between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canada through the sustained wellness of generations of Aboriginal people to come."

You can watch a short video from the government website about the creation of the window.  It shows the stained glass artist transforming Belcourt’s design into glass. 

Here is the transcript of Christi Belcourt describing the design on the film:

"It begins in the bottom left corner in a lodge, where a grandfather is smoking his pipe. This is before residential schools when everything was whole… when everything was intact.

The middle panel of the left hand side is the panel that depicts the residential school era, where 150,000 children were forcibly removed from their families. The children were abused sexually, and abused physically, and mentally.

In 1990, Phil Fontaine was the first national leader to publicly acknowledge that he had been abused in residential schools. There was something that happened when he did it that made the rest of Canada kind of wake up to the idea that this had happened. So within the design there's a shattering of glass. And that represents the shattering of silence and the shattering of lives. Then the drum dancer…the Inuk drum dancer is there. The drum is our heartbeat, and so it's awakening the people. The dove is there as a hope of reconciliation.

In 2008, which is the middle panel, the Government of Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper publicly apologized, and our leaders were for the first time able to be on the floor of the House of Commons and respond. As it moves down into the right panel the lines and the colours are meant to bring a feeling of bringing it forward into the future.

The jingle dress is a sacred dress. It's a healing dress and so the jingle dress dancer is there. She's dancing for the future of her grandchildren. The child is now with the mother…no longer being separated…no longer being taken away. She is able to tell her child "I love you". The grandfather in the back is practicing ceremonies and able to pass on that traditional knowledge.

And so the bottom panel is the other half of the circle where the grandmother sits in the lodge and she's smoking her pipe for her grandchildren. And it is a restoration of cultures…a restoration of traditional practices. If we look at the history, we won't repeat it. If we remember history, we'll be able to move forward from it."

Top panel of the window

The TRC Summary (p.288) states:  "Commemoration in highly visible public spaces such as the parliament buildings creates openings for dialogue about what happened, why, and what can be learned from this history,  Through dialogue citizens can strengthen their ability to `accommodate difference, acknowledge injustice, and demonstrate a willingness to share authority over the past.'  In the context of national reconciliation, ongoing public commemoration has the potential to contribute to human rights education in the broadest sense."

It is said that history is written by the victors.  For too long, Indigenous stories have been told by those colonial voices that had power over them.  Jesse Wente of the CBC and TIFF Lightbox feels it is critical that we listen to those stories as they are told by Indigenous people.  This is why I have used Christi Belcourt's words to tell this story.  Listening from the heart is an important part of healing and reconciliation.  As you listened to her explain the significance of the window and the vision of healing, you are an active participant in this window to the future.  You are a part of our new story.