EDMONTON –
In the spirit of reconciliation, NorQuest College is selling t-shirts promoting Edmonton’s new Indigenous ward names and directing the proceeds to a bursary for Indigenous students.
In September 2020, Edmonton city council approved boundary changes to the city’s 12 electoral wards as well as new names, which were chosen by people from the Anishinaabe, Blackfoot, Cree, Dene, Inuit, Iroquois (Michel Band), Métis and Sioux nations.
The 12 shirts NorQuest launched on Thursday feature a graphic design of each new city ward boundary, its name, a pronunciation guide, and information about the word used as the title.
NorQuest’s manager of business enterprise said the idea originated with Tibetha Kemble, the school’s Indigenous relations manager.
“How can we create awareness and produce something to make other people aware of this great initiative?” Jackie Nguyen recalled of their conversation.
NorQuest’s manager of business enterprise, Jackie Nguyen, said the idea was to promote Edmonton’s new ward names and help educate the public about them.
“This was our commitment to reconciliation as NoruQest College. We wanted to raise awareness, education, of this monumental change in the city of Edmonton.”
Nguyen told CTV News Edmonton students have “flocked” to support the initiative, which will funnel proceeds into the Indigenous Legacy Access Bursary. The fund aims to support and improve access to post-secondary education for Indigenous people.
The shirts, priced at $24.99,will remain on sale year round.
CANDIDATES PUTTING OUT SHIRTS, TOO
NorQuest’s shirts aren’t the only ones hitting Edmonton streets ahead of the municipal election on Oct. 18.
Mayoral candidate Cheryl Watson and her campaign team produced merchandise celebrating Edmonton, as did council hopeful Ashley Salvador promoting Ward Métis.
“Of course we’ve got the standards; we’ve got signs and buttons. But we do have mugs and t-shirts and fanny packs. We also have stickers,” Salvador told CTV News Edmonton.
“We’ve surprisingly sold a lot of fanny packs, as well, which I find hilarious.”
Her team’s merchandise sports the phrase “River Valley Regular,” or designs of the North Saskatchewan.
“A lot of effort went into thinking about what is our campaign going to feel like? How do we want to connect with people?” she said.
“If we are able to find ways to get people engaged that maybe traditionally wouldn’t be involved, that’s a good thing for us.”
