Listen Live

Students honour local elders with portrait project

More paintings for the Smithers Secondary School Honouring Our Elders Legacy Project have been installed.

According to Art Teacher Perry Rath, students who are asked to participate paint a living elder who has made contributions to the community.

He added there is always one Wet’suwet’en elder and one non-indigenous elder.

Rath said the project began in 2005 as a way to bridge cultures and generations.

- Advertisement -

“It was clear from the beginning that it was going to be a very powerful project and so we wanted to make sure it was a legacy project and so we can sustain it through the years,” he said.

Rath added that the project generally is held every two years.

“Often as well when we pair up who’s painting which elder, we’ll often try to have someone from different cultural backgrounds paint someone from the opposite cultural background,” he said.

In a Facebook post by Rath, he added that there were various delays in the installation process.

He also said to Vista Radio, there has been gratitude from the elders and the families involved regarding the paintings.

The portraits can be viewed along the building of Smithers Secondary School.

Something going on in the Bulkley Valley Lakes District you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].

Lindsay Newman
Lindsay Newman
News Reporter Lindsay joined the MyBulkleyLakesNow news team in 2019. She was born and raised in Cambridge, Ontario where she then moved to Toronto to complete Journalism school at Humber College where she graduated in 2017. Lindsay started her news journey at 680 News- Toronto's largest talk radio station. Lindsay then moved on to 680 News, where she was an audio editor. She has always loved the idea of living in British Columbia since she was a teenager and was excited to make the to move out to Smithers, BC to branch out her journalism skills. In Lindsay's spare time she is usually relaxing with her two cats and in the warmer months going on hikes with her friends and partner.

Continue Reading

cfbv Now playing play

Related Articles

Latest News

Measles cases reported in B.C. this year top 100

B.C.’s health officials have said 102 cases of measles have been reported across B.C. so far this year, with most of those in the Northern Health region.

Measles cases reported in B.C. this year top 100

B.C.’s health officials have said 102 cases of measles have been reported across B.C. so far this year, with most of those in the Northern Health region.

Website refresh surfaces more of your important local stories

Regular visitors to this website will have noticed some changes to the home page and other templates in recent days.

Disaster resilience funding coming to Hazelton and Lake Babine Nation

The province is sending funding for disaster resilience projects in Hazelton and the Lake Babine Nation.

Property sales rise and fall across the Bulkley Valley and Lakes District

The Bulkley Valley and Lakes District saw mixed results...