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This beautiful mural, created by students at Charles H. Hulse Public School and Ridgemont High School, looks at Peace, Love and Kindness within ourselves, our community and the world.

This is the lovely Mural Statement written by the fantastic artist, Claudia Salguero, which was read by students at the Mural Unveiling Celebration:

“The heart represents ourselves.
The orange oval represents our community.
The orange square, within which the mural is depicted, represents our world.

The two friends in the magenta circle represent the idea we can be different and still be accepted and loved, and that we accept and love others in our community who are different.

The blue square shows that each member of our community is unique – that we each follow our own path, that we each study, learn and grow in our own way.

The eagle was added in consultation with Algonquin Artist, Monique Manatch, and represents the idea that we have a responsibility to take care of every part of Mother Earth.

The soccer ball, music notes and paint brush show the importance of sports and arts in our lives.

All the other images on this beautiful mural represent different ways that we can help each other, build peace and work together as one big human family to make the world a better place.

We are all more the same than we are different. We are all in this together. We belong to each other.”

This amazing project came together with the help from my partners Nancy Solange Parra-Dean (Arts Educator and Facilitator) and Claudia Salguero (Mural Artist). We would like to acknowledge Crime Prevention Ottawa/Prévention du Crime Ottawa’s Paint It Up grant program for the financial assistance to complete this mural.

And a big thanks to all of our friends who attended the Mural Unveiling Ceremony yesterday – John Fraser, Chris Ellis, Clinton Cowan, Erin Loney from Councillor Jean Cloutier, Alta Vista’s office, Margaret Embleton, from Mamawi Together, and Elder Dumont.

A special thank you to Elder Dumont for the opening and closing prayer.

Here are photos from the beautiful Mural Unveiling Ceremony held in October 2017. Thanks for these great photos, Margaret!