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Exhibit tells story of artist’s own journey of understanding the relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples

‘It’s not just learning about other people, it’s about learning about myself, too.’ MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Growing up, Lani Zastre was proud to call herself Canadian.

In school, she learned about a multicultural country with a society founded on equality and acceptance. Canada Day was a time for earnest celebration.

Zastre’s perspective changed when she started pursuing a degree in social work.

“Learning that, at the time, 86 per cent of kids in care were Indigenous and… recognizing that there’s a disproportionate amount of Indigenous people that experience poverty,” she says. “You really start to realize that the odds are against people, the systems were designed not to take care of Indigenous people.”

To read more of this story first reported by the Winnipeg Free Press, click here.

Last year, Lani Zastre embarked on an art project to figure out what it means to be a settler and a respectful Indigenous ally in Canada. The result is Be a Better Settler, a portrait exhibit and self-published book.

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