Image Glossary
Balsam Fir: Balsam fir can be made into a tea or small boughs placed under your pillow while you sleep to bring about clarity or a clear vision of a direction to take in life.
Bear: The bear is a symbol of healing and when harvested provides medicines, food, clothing, tools, and sacred items.
Bear Grease: Grease is rendered during the harvesting of a bear. The grease is then used as a component of topical healing medicines.
Beaver: The beaver is an important part of creation. It diverts water to where it is needed and is the carpenter of the forest.
Bees: Bees are important in the replenishment of the land as they transfer pollen from one place to another. They also symbolize the cycle of reciprocity as they take pollen from plants to produce honey.
Bentwood Box: Bentwood boxes are traditional to the northwest coast with a variety of uses. This one was commissioned by the TRC in 2009 and travelled to national events, where people placed personal items into the box to symbolize their journey toward healing and expressions of reconciliation.[1]
Berries: Strawberries are considered the heart berry and so symbolize women as the heart of communities.
Birch Bark: Birch bark in small amounts is important in fire lighting. In large pieces it is used in the construction of canoes, and the inner bark is used to make medicines.
Blueberries: Blueberries provide nutrition in the summer, and the leaves in the fall when harvested in a traditional way and made into a tea strengthen the body in preparation for the winter.
Cedar: Cedar boughs are used to line the floor of ceremonial lodges and to designate sacred spaces.
Chaga: Chaga is a form of fungus that grows on the side of birch trees and has many medicinal purposes including remedies for arthritis, immune disorders, and cancer.
Clam Shells and Wampum Beads: Wampum are cylindrical purple beads made from quahog clam shells and white beads made from whelk shells that are used to make belts that symbolize agreements made between nations.
Crown: The crown represents the British Monarchy that brought hierarchical colonial ways of being to Turtle Island.
Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt: Since wampum beads are made of the shells of part of Creation, they are believed to have spirit and therefore pass the knowledge of the agreements made from generation to generation.
Doodem Animals: Doodem animals represent community members and the responsibilities they hold. The Doodem someone belongs to is passed from generation to generation. The Bear Doodem are the Medicine Keepers, healers, and guardians of the community. The Crane Doodem are responsible for external negotiations and for representing the community in decision-making between nations. The Loon Doodem are responsible for the internal governance of the community. The Moose Doodem are the artists and are responsible for the wellbeing of the community. The Thunderbird Doodem are the spiritual leaders and visionaries of the community. The Turtle Doodem are the Wisdom Keepers and the mediators who the community look to for guidance in decision-making and during disagreements. The Wolf Doodem are the hunters, providers, and protectors of the community.
Eagle Feathers: Eagle feathers are the highest honour someone can receive, and they command us to speak the truth. Seven feathers appear here to represent the loss of community members.
Flowers: Flowers appear in many Indigenous art forms representing the beautiful gifts of the land.
Four Sacred Medicines: All of Creation is considered sacred in an Indigenous worldview, the plants, animals, water, and so are seen as medicines. The four sacred medicines are an important part of the healing journey for many First Nations individuals and communities. Tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, and cedar are used in many forms and for many purposes in ceremony and in everyday life. Tobacco is used as an offering of gratitude and when burned is used as a messenger to Creator and the Ancestors. Sage is often burned in a smudge, and the smoke is welcomed to your head so you will have an open mind, to your eyes so you will see many perspectives, to your ears so you will hear new truths, to your mouth so you will speak with kindness, to your heart so you will have empathy. Sweetgrass is braided to symbolize hair and is burned as a form of cleansing of the self and spaces. Cedar too can be burned in a smudge but is more commonly used in teas and in bathing for cleansing, healing, and grounding.
Hand Drum: The drum reminds us to connect to the heartbeat of the land. Hand drums are used in ceremonies during the singing of healing songs and the gathering of nations.
Inukshuk: Inukshuk are human shapes created from stone and were originally used as directional markers in the Arctic. Today they are prominent in Inuit art and stand as symbols of safety, hope, and friendship.
Juniper: When harvested and prepared in traditional ways, juniper provides medicine that promotes a strong immune system.
Labrador Tea: The Labrador tea plant grows near marshes and in damp wooded areas. The tea made from the leaves is used to ward off cold and flu viruses. The tea is also prominent in the home when people gather for conversation.
Maple: The first water from the maple tree serves as a reminder of the start of new life. The sap when rendered into syrup provides vital nutrients for the winter season.
Medallion: During early Treaty negotiations medallions were presented as gifts to First Nations negotiators that symbolized agreements made between First Nations and the Crown.
Medicine Wheel: The core teaching of the Medicine Wheel is one of balance. Four elements, four directions, four stages of life, four contributions to community, four colours, all the original instructions on how to live life in a good way are present in the Medicine Wheel and are to be kept in balance.
Métis Sash: The Métis sash originated as a working tool during the fur trade. It held many purposes from aiding in the carrying of heavy fur bundles, to the storage of items around the waist. Today the sash stands as a unifying signifier of Métis culture, identity, and language.
Moose: The moose gives its life to sustain communities. All parts of the body are used to provide everything from food to clothing, to tools, and sacred items.
Moose Hide: Animal hides are stretched and dried for many uses, including the making of clothing, regalia, and crafts. In the context of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people it represents the masculine role in speaking out against violence.
Old Man’s Beard: Old man’s beard is a fungus that grows on pine trees that are dying and when made into medicine is used topically to combat different forms of bacterial infections.
Orange Shirt: Wearing an orange shirt is a symbol of solidarity with Indigenous people and recognizes our shared history.
Pine Tree: In an Indigenous worldview trees remind us to be grateful for the gift of life, and historically, the white pine became the symbol of peace, friendship, and unity.
Plantain: Plantain leaves are used as medicine to heal burns and insect bites and stings.
Quill Box: Quill boxes are made of birch bark, sweetgrass, and porcupine quills that have been dyed different colours using berries. They are used to store and carry sacred items.
Qulliq: The Qulliq is an Inuit oil lamp made of soapstone with a cotton and moss wick. Historically the lamp provided light, warmth, and a source for cooking. Today the Qulliq serves as a symbol of Inuit culture, identity, and language.
Raven: The raven is often seen as a trickster or as Nanaboozhoo, Nanabush, or Wiindigo whose purpose is to bring teachings about the balance between day and night or good and evil and how we are to understand our responsibilities to community.
Red Dress: The red dress is the unifying symbol representing missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
Sacred Pipe: The sacred pipe is used in ceremonies for burning tobacco that serves to send messages to Creator and the Ancestors about agreements being made.
Scroll: The scroll symbolizes the imposed one-sided Western view of historical agreements between Indigenous people and the government.
Seal: Sometimes referred to as the daily bread of Inuit living in the Arctic Region, seals are an important food staple in an environment where agriculture and the farming of domesticated animals is not possible. In addition, the hunting of seals is a significant cultural tradition and source of income gained through the sale of seal skins and products made from them.
Shaker: Shakers or rattles are made of wood and animal hide and bones and are used ceremonially in the singing of prayers and songs. They simulate the sound of the earth as it was created.
Skoden: The word Skoden is slang for “let’s go then” and is used here as a call to post-secondary institutions, and the many individuals that work in them, to commit to the truth and reconciliation journey.
Smudge Bowl: A shell or cast-iron pan is used to hold the sacred medicines, sage, tobacco, sweetgrass, and cedar for burning during ceremonies.
Spruce Boughs: Historically, spruce boughs were used in the creation of shelters and served as a foundation to sleep on. Today these boughs are still used in ceremonies to connect us to land and all of Creation.
Sweet Flag Root: Sweet flag root is used to sooth a sore throat and to support the vocal cords of big drum singers.
Tamarack: The tamarack tree provides medicines that restore calmness, and the trunks are used in the construction of ceremonial lodges.
Three Sisters: Corn, beans, and squash were part of the traditional diet of many First Nations communities. The three sisters rely on each other and work together as a collective to provide the nutrients of life. The reclaiming of traditional food systems is an important part of the healing journey for many Indigenous individuals and communities.
Thunderbird: Thunderbirds are the symbol for change. Entering the circle from the East they bring new life and exiting in the West they return Spirit back to the Sky World.
Totem Pole: Totem poles are significant cultural monuments created by First Nations in the Pacific Northwest. They are meant to commemorate events, histories, ancestry, clans, and people.
Turtle Island: Many First Nations creation stories tell of life being made possible for humans by the placing of land on the back of a turtle out of which all that is needed to sustain human life began to grow.
Two-Row Wampum Belt: Wampum belts represent the solidified agreements between two parties.
Ulu: The ulu is a knife used by Inuit women in the harvesting of food.
Water Drum: Also called the Little Boy Drum, the Water Drum is a form of communicating with all of Creation through prayer and serves to invite the Ancestors to be present during ceremonies to provide guidance.
Wild Rice: Wild rice is a traditional food for many First Nations around the Great Lakes. Today people are reclaiming the traditional harvesting practices and preparation of this food source, which serves an important role in ending ceremonial fasts.
Wolf: The wolf shows humility in its care and leadership of the pack by observing where support and protection is needed to bring about wellbeing for all.
