We came together as a community on Tuesday, following the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, wearing our orange shirts to show solidarity as we welcomed guest speaker Rain (sɬə́məxʷ) Pierre from Katzie First Nation.
Rain, a BC based Indigenous artist, held our whole school assembly this week, sharing stories of his journey from academia to his spiritual awakening where he discovered his gift for art. In his words, “It was up to our grandparents’ generation to survive attempted genocide, so it is up to my generation to show everyone why.”
Rain also held a session ahead of the assembly for Grade 12, where he went into more detail about his family’s history, culture and experience in residential schools and his inspirational story of resilience; rising from a life where he was deeply unhappy to living a life he now enjoys to the full!
The students found his story so inspiring, not only in the number of accomplishments he has achieved in his art career, but also that he was able to pursue something that fills his spirit and was brave enough to completely change career paths.
He spoke openly about his mental health challenges which include anxiety, showing the students that it is possible to live with and overcome them and his message about being yourself and going for your dreams really resonated with our students.
He credits a lot of his strength to the love and support he has received from his parents, both residential school survivors, and in turn how a lot of the motivation and inspiration in his art comes from wanting to do well for his family and community.
His art is a completely unique blend of who he is: from his engineering background and how he is able to design projects like the largest lenticular art mural in Canada, to using spray paint art inspired by anime and incorporating imagery from nature and important symbols from his Nation (Katzie). In his motivational speaking, he also feels a responsibility to tell the truth about Canadian history while using his art to inspire hope and positive change.
He took this message globally recently when he was invited to represent Canada at an intercultural conference in Austria, he has also received a rare King Charles III medal for his art and you will find his art on display in every medical office in the province!