Conference at the Council House
Bronze, steel, powder-coated aluminum
Tower: 250cm tall, Birds: variable, 25cm - 60cm in length
To be installed in the fall of 2017
City of Mississauga, Celebration Square
Commissioned by the City of Mississauga, Conference at the Council House stands at the entry to the Mississauga Public Library and Celebration Square as a monument to remind the local community of the rich history and diversity of the region. Thirty birds confer on and around a replica of the tower from the Council House built on the New Credit reserve in Hagersville 132 years ago – the land the Mississauga people moved to in 1847 from their ancestral home on the Credit River, in what is today called the city of Mississauga. What if the Mississaugas had not left their home by the Credit River, and instead built their Council House in 1882 on the land where Celebration Square now sits? The tower stands at Celebration Square as a reminder that we are standing on the Traditional Land of the Mississaugas of the Credit. The replica is created in consultation with the New Credit Council members.
The community of birds flocked around the Council House tower represents the diverse community that populates this land today. Outreach forms one portion of the work for Conference at the Council House. 30 bird sculptures were created using drawings from people in the local community. Field-trips for children were organized to the Riverwood Conservancy where the young people engaged in bird watching activities and learned about their bird neighbours, and listened to stories about birds shared with them by Aboriginal Elder Gary Sault. The students were then invited to draw portraits of the birds they see, heard about or imagined. In addition to these field-trips, calls for submission for bird portraits were posted in local libraries, community centres, and on the New Credit reserve. This outreach program was initiated with the intention of fostering a sense of responsibility and care for the environment and all beings with whom we share the land.
Conference at the Council House stands at the entry to the Mississauga Public Library and Celebration Square as a monument to the diverse and rich history of the region. The work addresses the migration of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation (MNCFN) who moved in 1847 from their ancestral home by the Credit River at Mississauga to the New Credit reserve in nearby Hagersville.
The sculpture replicates the MNCFN Council House where Mississauga’s Civic Centre now sits in order to address the ongoing force of settler colonialism.
Commissioned as part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration, the work stands at Celebration Square as a reminder that the project of colonialism is not over, and that we are standing on the Traditional Land of the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Thirty bird sculptures confer on and around the site as messengers from the next generation of the region’s inhabitants who pledge to create a future community where diversity is celebrated and differences are honored. Each bird is translated by the artist from a child’s drawing from the community — field-trips for children were organized to engage in bird watching activities, learn about their bird neighbors (both local and migratory), and listen to stories told by Ojibway elder and storyteller from Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Garry Sault.