An ongoing commitment to critical learning, systemic reflection, and accountable action
We recognize that meaningful reconciliation begins with truth: learning about the enduring cultures and languages of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, confronting the ongoing harms of settler colonialism, and understanding our unique responsibilities as a school operating on unceded Indigenous land. This work is not limited to a single day, event, or lesson; it is embedded in how we govern, how we teach, and how we question our institutional privilege in the world.
Across the Junior and Senior Schools, students are invited to explore themes of place, identity, stewardship, and systemic injustice. Students engage deeply with Indigenous perspectives and knowledge through literature, art, land-based experiential education, and interdisciplinary projects. This approach is designed to help students understand that reconciliation is not only about the past. It’s about the choices we make now: how we listen, how we learn, and how we contribute to a more just future.
Artist-in-Residence Program
A meaningful part of this work is our Artist-in-Residence program, which brings students in relationship for ongoing learning with Indigenous creators and Knowledge Keepers.
Through hands-on learning, storytelling, and artistic practice, students learn directly from Indigenous artists to explore how culture, identity, land, and sovereignty intersect. In 2021–22, Haisla Collins joined Stratford Hall as Artist-in-Residence and led to the creation of two works of art. Junior School students participated in creating the button blanket displayed in the PYP lobby. Senior School students took part in creating the mural Where the Realms Meet displayed in the MYP Gym. Today, that learning continues with our current Artist-in-Residence, Zoe Ann Cardinal Cire, who is working with students and contributing her own perspectives, knowledge, and creative practice to our community.
By investing in these creative partnerships, we ensure that Indigenous brilliance is not just studied historically, but actively honoured, valued, and supported within our school community.
"Connection and relationships are important to me and I feel grateful to have spent time with students from Grades K - 12. I am able to share with the students how land and our bodies are not separate, how nature impacts us and we impact nature, and if we care for nature, it will take care of us. I am able to share the specificity of place, where I come from, and why that is important to me and how I make.
When I teach, I always try to encourage us to slow down and respect the materials we engage with, focusing on the materials and where they come from. It has been meaningful to share truthful histories and first-hand stories with the students, and focus on why telling stories from our own perspectives are important.
It is a joy to see the students think critically, empathetically, and carefully!"
- Zoe Ann Cardinal Cire, Indigenous Artist-in-Residence
Zoe Ann Cardinal Cire is a visual artist born and raised on Treaty 6 territory of central Alberta. Cire’s work talks with the culture that raised her: her kokom’s lineage of Beaver Lake Cree Nation and her moshom’s Métis lineage. These conversations oscillate between the terrains of paint, beads and textiles, focusing on place and enlivening material associations. Here, relations speak about language and memory, where it can be found, and what it says when it reaches.
Cire completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts with a minor in Curatorial Studies from Emily Carr University. Cire graduated in 2024 from Yale University with a MFA in Painting and Printmaking where she won the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize. Her works have been included in exhibitions at Fazakas (Vancouver) the Native American Cultural Center (New Haven), Art Toronto, Bradley Ertaskiran (Montreal), Burnaby Art Gallery (Burnaby), Seymour Art Gallery (North Vancouver), HOEA Gallery (Gisborne, NZ), David Castillo (Miami) and Franz Kaka (Toronto).
Learning, Reflection, and Action
In 2024–25, we had the privilege of hosting The Witness Blanket, a monumental work by Indigenous artist Carey Newman. The exhibit invited Stratford Hall students, as well as more than 350 students and staff representing nine local VSB and ISABC schools, to explore Canadian history, Indigenous perspectives, and art as a form of activism and reconciliation. More than 40 community members from our surrounding neighbourhood also attended three public evening events. Composed of more than 800 objects representing stories of loss, trauma, and resilience, The Witness Blanket honours survivors of Canada’s residential school system while serving as a powerful call to action for the future.
That call to action inspired our community to contact municipal organizations, provincial representatives, and Members of Parliament, urging them to advance projects that fulfill the remaining 94 Calls to Action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
From Learning to Action
Stratford Hall is currently finalizing a comprehensive, 5-year Truth and Reconciliation Action Plan to guide our community with measurable intention and structural accountability. This plan will identify priorities, strengthen learning, and ensure our commitment to working in partnership with Indigenous communities continues to grow in meaningful ways. As this work develops, we will continue to share how our community is learning and taking action.
