EDMONTON—A Treaty Six-inspired soccer ball, designed by an artist with reconciliation in mind, will make its way from Edmonton into education for kids across Canada.

The piece of art was done by Dawn Marie Marchand, a Cree-Métis artist based in Edmonton, and placed on hundreds of soccer balls for Free Footie, a free soccer league for disadvantaged kids in the city.

The ball is given to every child who enters the Free Footie program and founder Tim Adams estimates that there are around 1,500 being kicked around the city. However, the ball will also be featured in a book designed and sold to schools by Scholastic Canada to teach kids across the country about truth, reconciliation, Indigenous culture, traditions and land.

“I’ve always thought a ball could be way more than just a thing you kick, it can be an education tool, and clearly the point’s been made that it can be a really great education tool,” said Adams. “I’m happy that we’re just sharing our history, and roots, and what the Indigenous community means to Edmonton and to our Free Footie community.”

Marchand’s piece on the ball represents reconciliation in Edmonton and attempts to teach children playing with it about their Indigenous neighbours. It’s a simple way to introduce them to start thinking about the people they go to school with, do business with and live with, she said.

The ball project was launched in 2016 for Free Footie after Marchand and Adams spent many months getting the design right. Adams posted to Twitter on Thursday about the fact that the ball would now be used to educate children all across Canada in a deal with Scholastic to include it as an example in a book.

There are 12 horses running in two directions on the ball with the city skyline in the background. The 12 horses represent the various groups of Indigenous people living in and around the city.

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“It makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something because you know you’re going to be touching the lives of young people,” she said.

There is still a long way to go in the process of reconciliation, said Marchand, and the process must begin with truth and connection.

“I think the most important thing that teachers need to recognize is that they need to start developing relationships with their local communities. They need to know who their neighbours are,” she said.

The book uses the Treaty Six ball as an example to show kids that reconciliation can start with simple things, said Patrice Peterkin, senior editor with Scholastic.

“Once they look at it they can find out exactly what the images represent, and how it’s connected to Treaty Six, and it gets them thinking about their own relationships to the land,” Peterkin said.

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The book will come in a package that includes 16 copies and a teaching guide that teachers can use to help guide students through the contents of the book. The Treaty Six ball is included in the book about the importance of land, but Peterkin said there are three other books as well: on health and wellness, community and reconciliation. The books are intended for students in Grades 3 to 8.

“The main purpose is to introduce kids to Indigenous cultures, traditions, perspectives and world views and as well for them to learn about some historical truths about residential schools and basically colonization,” Peterkin said.

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