Happy January.
After the unforgettable year that was 2020, it’s refreshing to enter 2021 with new perspectives and goals. This year is going to be a BIG one for Little Canada, and we’re ready for what’s ahead. With the holiday break now behind us, our team is back and eager as ever to continue building our magical little world. Even though the year has only just begun, we have quite a bit of news to share with you, so let’s jump right into it.
Over the holidays, Little Canada got a spot on CBC Toronto and CBC Radio! We took reporter, Angelina King on a little sneak peek tour of all the happenings in Little Canada. Make sure to check out the segment below. The beautiful mural titled Thirteen Moons, commissioned by Philip Cote, was installed in the Little Bites café, and our beautiful wall graphics were installed in the location of our future destinations. Last but not least, we have a new exciting employment opportunity with Little Canada to share with you!
CBC Toronto
We love playing host, so it was a pleasure to show our friends Angelina and Martin from CBC Toronto around Little Canada and share with them all the magic that has been taking place.
Click the image below to watch the full segment.
Thirteen Moons
We’re thrilled to share that the mural we had commissioned by Indigenous artist, Philip Cote, is complete and has been installed in our Little Bites café. This incredible work of art will astonish you and the incredible use of colours will leave a lasting impression. Continue reading to find out the meaning and beautiful story behind Thirteen Moons.
The Thirteen Moons is an Indigenous measure of natural time and marks times of ceremony and harvest. Indigenous knowledge is based on a land-based pedagogy, and in this case, can be found on a turtle’s back in the form of natural formations created from elements of nature and its cycles like the moon’s relationship to earth. The moon travels around the earth thirteen times a year. This relationship can be seen on the turtle’s back in segments of 13. Around the edge of the turtle’s back, there are 28 segments representing the days per moon, making up the thirteen-moon calendar.
The circle of stones on the right-hand side symbolizes ancient technology that carries information like the turtle about the thirteen moons regarding harvest times throughout the year using star knowledge.
The fish are in relationship with the turtle in connection to the clan system. It was said the turtle is king of the fish clan and they represent the intellect of our community and help disseminate knowledge. The muskrat is another part of knowledge related to the turtle in our understanding of why we call this land turtle island the muskrat is said to have saved the future of everyone during the great flood. It was he who went down to the depths of the water to grasp earth at the bottom so the turtle could carry the earth on its back and create a new beginning for us all Turtle Island.
Philip Cote is an Indigenous artist, muralist and graduate of OCAD University’s Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design. In addition to his work as an artist, Philip Cote is an activist, ancestral knowledge-keeper and historian. He uses his knowledge and art to unearth his cultural experience of signs of Indigenous symbols, language and interpretation. His work is displayed all throughout Toronto and the GTA. Be sure to check out some of his work located throughout Toronto.
Visit his website, https://tecumsehcollective.wixsite.com/philipcote, to learn more about his incredible work.
Future Little Destinations
For launch, Little Canada will open with 5 complete destinations and one, Little North, will be under construction. To represent the locations of our future destinations, our team has created beautiful environmental graphics using tilt shift photography, a method of taking photos that makes a regular landscape or cityscape look miniature! Check out the awesome creative work that was developed for the future homes of Little East Coast, Little West Coast, Little Prairies and Little Rockies.
Come work with us!
Little Canada is looking for an advisor to work with our Equity, Inclusion and Belonging team. We would like to partner with someone who has experience working with Indigenous relationships, LGBTQ+ and multi-cultural representation. This individual must embody inclusivity and the Little Canada Values. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, we would love to chat with you! Please reach out to us at careers@lc.c7.ca
