This year, Gerald Gloade, a former Culture and Heritage Working Committee member, and employee with Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre, has taken time out of his well-deserved retirement to design the poster in honour of the occasion.

The theme for this year’s poster and Mi’kmaw History Month is A’tukwemk – the Mi’kmaq term for storytelling – and A’tukowinu’k, storytellers.

This year’s Mi’kmaq History Month honours the importance of stories and storytellers in Mi’kmaw culture. Stories were (and are) a way people teach, learn, and live, and about how people formed, and still form deep connections with one another. They serve as an important connection between past and present, conveying timeless messages and teachings, and values.

Created by Gerald Gloade with Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre (MDCC), the poster was unveiled at the Tripartite Forum’s Sept. 10^th Culture and Heritage meeting.

The theme for this year’s poster is food, and Gerald’s work, with nuance and historical respect for Mi’kmaw tradition, incorporates imagery from the Mi’kmaw Moon Cycles – relating them to the Western 12-month calendar – acknowledging the seasonal, traditional Mi’kmaw food sources, and where they come from.

At its first unveiling at the Sept. 10^th meeting, Gerald explained the collaborative and creative process – three weeks of work, in consultation with the members of the Mi’kmaw History Month Committee, revising earlier designs and tweaking it to fit the month.

“It’s not just sitting there, doing one thing. It’s a progression, continually changing,” Gerald said.

He stressed the collaborative nature of the work, noting every detail was considered, from how to depict a the family preparing a meal and the depictions traditional food sources, to details like the grass needing to be brown, and not green, since the poster was made for October.

As part of his work, he incorporated a variety of artwork into the poster, including paintings that alongside one another, mix modern and traditional imagery by incorporating traditional Mi’kmaw archers, and contemporary Mi’kmaw fishers, for example.