“Project of Heart” (P.O.H.) is a hands-on, collaborative, inter-generational, inter-institutional artistic endeavour. Its purpose is to commemorate the lives of the thousands of Indigenous children who died as a result of the residential school experience.
It commemorates the families and communities to whom those children belonged. It is designed to bring awareness both to the settler community of predominantly European Canadians and communities of new Canadians from other parts of the world.
A key objective is to encourage “ownership” of this historic injustice by the non-Indigenous community. By doing so, non-Aboriginal Canadians can then be moved to take responsibility for the continued oppression of Indigenous people in Canada, and be inspired to take action.
P.O.H. also seeks to expand the opportunities available for the wisdom of Aboriginal Elders to be heard within Euro-educational/religious institutions. By joining with other groups who are making a space for Indigenous knowledge, insititutions can help to change attitudes and behaviours – hearts and minds – as Elders give voice to the traditions that were suppressed by residential schooling.