We Put Our Hands Up
- Kim Trottier
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
In April, at our longhouse event, we finally sat Stuart Pagaduan down in front of a camera. It had taken five years to get there. Five years of coordinating schedules, of knowing this conversation needed to happen but never quite finding the moment. That day, it did.
The story actually starts back in the spring of 2021. I was searching for a Coast Salish artist to create the Culturally Committed logo, and I wanted to get it right. I remember talking it over with my friend Jennifer Jones of Lyackson, telling her what I was looking for. "You need to connect with Stuart Pagaduan," she said.
She introduced us, and I explained to Stuart what Culturally Committed was trying to do: strengthen allyship among non-Indigenous folks, and create a symbol that would feel like a welcome and an honouring for anyone who engaged with our community. Something that said safety before a single word was spoken.
Stuart had a vision almost immediately. What he created, generously and without hesitation, became our logo.
This April, he finally explained it to us in his own words.
Watch Stuart share the meaning behind the Culturally Committed logo:
Below is his teaching, in his own words:
Good day. My name is Stuart Pagaduan. I am a Coast Salish artist, and I'm here today to talk about the logo.
As you see, there's a human in the middle of a heart, and there are eagles around the human, with their hands held up high. If you are in Coast Salish territory, at an event in our longhouse or any community gathering, our people are ever so humble and thankful for your presence. We put our hands up in gratitude and say huy tseep q'u. We're thankful for many things. We're thankful for the new day. We're thankful for our Elders, for our Elders laying down teachings for us.
We can see that we have four eagles around our human, with their hands up. It is said that the richness we have is the people who are around us. The richness we have is our teachings, and we hold them up high. And we give thanks for them.
Huy tseep q'u.
Five years after that first conversation with Jennifer, I finally understand what I asked Stuart for and what he gave us. Not just a logo. A teaching, held up high, that we've been carrying every day since.
Huy tseep q'u, Stuart. We hold your teaching up high, too.
🧡 Kim + the CC Team
Comments