FOREGROUND / NOW MEMORIAL
In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated the history and consequences of Indian Residential Schools, issued 94 calls to action, including the creation of public memorials to Indigenous survivors and lost children. In 2024, the City of Calgary, Alberta, along with First Nations and Métis representatives, organized a design competition for a permanent memorial to residential school victims. Located at the confluence of the Bow and the Elbow Rivers, the winning entry, Wandering Spirit by Ground Cubed and the Siksika artist Adrian Stimson, envisions “a place of healing, beauty, and celebration,” says Greg Stewart, a landscape architect and partner at Ground Cubed. Incorporating traditional iconography—a requirement of the competition, alongside an Indigenous design lead—the memorial centers on a ceremonial gathering ground that is paved with…