More than paint: North Park students leave a legacy in Saskatoon

Not every Grade 8 student gets the chance to leave something behind.

Most leave a school year with memories, a report card and a yearbook signed by friends.

Twenty-eight Saskatoon students are leaving a mural.

Read more Saskatchewan Stories from Brittany Caffet:

• Life in rotations: A Father’s Day story from Cigar Lake
• Nakon’i’a with Kunsi: How a puppet is reviving the Nakoda language
• Preserving the game: The Saskatoon Soccer Legacy project

Beneath the Circle Drive North bridge, along the Stew Uzelman Pedway, bright colours now stretch across a wall that was once grey concrete.

Painted by hand, the massive mural celebrates Michif culture through images of the prairie, water, wildlife, language and community.

The mural spans one end of the Stew Uzelman pedway, located beneath the Circle Drive North bridge. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

For the students in North Park Wilson School’s Creative Action program, the mural is more than an art project.

It’s proof that young people can make a lasting mark on the place they call home.

Listen to the story on Behind the Headlines:

“Even with walking with the kids over here, some of the students have said, like, ‘I never thought I would be able to do a project like this,'” said teacher Sheryl Salen. “This is their legacy. Every time they go by this, they’ll know we did this, and this is a lasting part of Saskatoon.”

The mural is the result of months of planning, collaboration and learning.

Many elements representing Michif culture are included in the design, like these flowers. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Creative Action is one of four specialized Grade 8 programs offered through Saskatoon Public Schools. Students apply from across the city, drawn by the program’s focus on creative expression, community involvement, social justice and leadership development.

But before a single brush touched the wall, there was plenty of work to do.

Funding had to be secured. Permissions had to be approved. Partnerships had to be built.

Then came the most important step: making sure the story being told was authentic.

Local artist Josh Jacobson handled the outline, and the students spent two weeks filling their design with colour. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

“We wanted to do something that was cultural, making sure that it has authentic representation,” Salen explained. “So that’s where Auntie Fay Maurice came in and worked with the kids and really helped give insight to the Michif people.”

The lessons from the Michif knowledge keeper changed perspectives.

Student Penny Mitchell admits she knew very little about the culture before the project began.

“Before this project, I was really just like, ‘Oh, Michif, it’s just another Métis, Indigenous, they’re all the same,'” she said. “But during this project, I’ve learned so much about how it’s individualized from other Indigenous peoples.”

A horse pulling a Red River cart is prominently featured in the mural. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

The experience opened fellow student Bridgette Roslinsky’s eyes as well.

“I’ve enjoyed it a lot because it’s been so eye-opening to how many cultures there are in Canada,” she said.

The mural itself reflects dozens of voices.

Local artist Josh Jacobson guided the design process, asking each student to contribute ideas.

“He gave us each a slip of paper and he said, ‘Okay, draw something on it,'” recalled student Madeline Lane Pelech. “Then he combined them together.”

What emerged is a vibrant visual story.

The mural is a bright burst of colour along the riverbank. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

A kokum and her husband walk a trail. Water flows alongside the prairie landscape. A Tree of Life rises above a Red River cart. Bison move across the grasslands. Michif words appear throughout the mural, woven among Saskatoon berries and chokecherries.

“It doesn’t necessarily follow a set story,” Jacobson said. “But all of it together has a narrative.”

As the mural has taken shape, so too has the community’s connection to it.

People walking or cycling through the area stop to watch the progress. Some return day after day to see what’s changed.

“The interaction with the community has been really strong,” Jacobson said. “Getting the chance to see a mural come to life step by step every day makes people feel like they’re part of the process.”

For student Jacey Wake, that’s exactly the point.

“I hope people feel happy when they walk by,” she said. “Even if it just makes their day better, just to see colour in a very gray area.”

Members of the community have been showing their support, offering kind words to the class and even leaving notes. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Not long ago, she says, the underpass felt forgotten.

Now it feels different.

“I just hope people feel like it’s a better area because of the mural.”

For Bridgette Roslinsky, the scale of what they were creating didn’t fully sink in right away.

“Honestly, it feels really great,” she said. “It didn’t hit me till halfway through last week that this is gonna be here for years upon years.”

When that realization came, so did a sense of responsibility.

In the years to come, thousands of people will pass beneath the Circle Drive bridge.

Many will admire the colours.

Some will stop to read the Michif words.

Most will never know the names of the students who painted it.

But the students will know.

And every time they walk through that underpass, they’ll be reminded of something important: Sometimes making a difference starts with picking up a paintbrush.

What began as a school project for a Grade 8 class has become something much bigger: a hand-painted mural, a lesson in Michif culture and a lasting gift to the city. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)