Justice Sutherland wants her children to know where they come from.
“Just bringing back tradition to our family has been amazing,” she said.
The local artist has been reconnecting to her Indigenous roots in Moose Factory since becoming a mother. She’s learning from a great source — her mother, Amanda Sutherland.
Amanda’s father, who was a Fort Albany First Nation member, died when she was young, and she lost a lot of her cultural connections.
“Bringing in the culture to us is very important since we weren’t raised in it. I didn’t raise my kids in it,” said Amanda. “It wasn’t until I started working at Northern College and learning from community members, elders in the community.”
Amanda is an Indigenous services administration assistant at Northern College.
“Everybody has been so good at teaching me, at teaching Justice,” she said.
Justice agrees and adds that the community has been incredibly helpful in their journey.
She's using art to explore her cultural ties and has painted murals at Northern College and Sparks Pizza. It's a way to connect to her own community and family, and anyone else who wants to enjoy her work.
“The one thing I always could connect to is art and it’s something that translates in every culture, in every language. It connects to everyone in a different way,” she said.
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Having spent time in western Canada, those traditions shaped some of their views.
Becoming a mother has motivated justice to explore her local roots and bring more tradition and culture into her home.
“It wasn’t until I had my own kids and she started doing her teachings and stuff like that and getting connected to the culture here in Timmins that I was able to realize that I wanted to bring that down to my kids as soon as I had them,” said Justice.
Her time in Kelowna has influenced her art and she learning more about the local styles.
“It’s weird because I’m always talking about Indigenous culture and I realize I have to bring this side in instead of always bringing what I was raised around,” said Justice. “Because that’s the whole point. I’m trying to reconnect to the Native lines here and bring more of an arts and culture representation from our area.”
Language has been a challenge in reconnecting with family.
“Justice was four years old, and I had not connected to my dad’s side of the family yet, and I went up north to meet my kokum (grandmother) for the first time, and it was very emotional,” said Amanda.
“I couldn’t talk to her though because I didn’t know how to speak Cree, and she only knew how to speak Cree, which is sad because it’s a language that’s being lost, and I wish I had that language so that I could teach it to my kids.”
Amanda said passing on what she’s learned is a healing experience.
“Whatever I am taught, I then go, and I teach students, I teach staff, I teach whoever wants to learn what I know,” she said.
The shift in how Indigeneity and culture are perceived in Canada has impacted Amanda’s growth and education.
“When I was being raised, being Indigenous was something you hid,” she said. “I was glad to hide it at the time, but as I got older, I realized that I was missing out on so much, and learning all of that and bringing it in has helped me grow not just as a person but as a parent, a grandmother, a friend, a colleague, it gets into everything that I do now.”
Justice's goal in her art and her family is to amplify the feeling of home.
“It’s nice to continue to bring down our teachings and traditions down through our family,” she said.