After entering a contest on a whim, Wynona Paul says she was jumping for joy when she found out she had won.
The contest: the opportunity to have her art featured on the WHLPenticton Vees’ Indigenous Night orange jerseys.
The logo the Indigenous multi-disciplinary designed honours the Four Food Chiefs.
The orange jerseys will be worn at the game on Jan. 31, when the Vees face off against the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Then, the jerseys will be auctioned off, with all the funds raised going toward the Orange Shirt Society.
For the Indigenous artist, being able to help raise funds for the society is a full-circle moment.
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“I am learning who I am through my art, it has been so amazing. I am the first generation in my family to not go to residential school, so my aunties, uncles and my mother went to residential school,” said Paul.
“For us to take this step is very big. It’s one big step towards the reconciliation of my people and being able to revitalize our culture and to revitalize our language.”
Paul will also take the ice wearing her own orange jersey to sing the Okanagan Song with her sister, nephew and a friend at the South Okanagan Event Centre on Indigenous Night.