The Neighbours Quilting Project

This community arts project generated a space where people got to know one another by creating their own quilt squares to tell their stories which they shared with each other and the wider community.

We strive to actively build understanding and empathy between new comers to Canada and First Peoples who call KW home. We are aware that both newcomers to Canada and First Peoples who live in the region are very diverse and that many Canadians simply have no idea of the many lived realities, histories, or cultural/social/political circumstances beyond the most rudimentary.

Building this quilt was the first phase of a three-phase project that will encourage conversation and dialogue about what it means to be Indigenous in Canada on Turtle Island (North America) and what it means to be a newcomer to these lands in the process of being settled. While quilting itself, is an art form brought by settlers to Canada, many First Peoples have adapted the practice to represent their cultures. And nothing holds the protection and warmth, both artistically and practically, more than what a hand sewn quilt can.

We look at this project as one small step in a long journey toward reconciliation with First Peoples through creating this collective encounter which is using the nurturing and practical art of sewing to bring people together. There is not a culture on the planet that doesn’t use some form of sewing to create all of the things we need to survive. In fact, the original treaty documents of the Haudensaune Confederacy with the first European Settlers were created through the threading of shell beads on a loom. Subsequently quilters created a new pattern actually called the wampum block pattern.

What we also know, is that newcomers to Canada also bring with them rich histories, cultures, and stories, that are important and need to be heard so everyone can come to a greater understanding of the challenges that are faced when powers beyond our own, remove us from our lands, uproot our lives (sometimes for generations), and what it means to start anew.

This story quilt provided the opportunity for individual community members to create a public record that was both beautiful and informing.

This project was made possible through funding from the Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship.