On this first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, I give thanks to the Coast Salish people on whose unceded territory I now gratefully call home.

In 2017 I designed a pattern for crocheted lapghans and named them in honour of Dr. Peter Bryce. This was the doctor who, in 1907, called out the federal government on the appalling conditions and treatment of Indigenous children. He was then discredited and forced out of public service.

Each year I make and gift several blankets to survivors, but there are many thousands more to be made and gifted. At various times, friends and colleagues have also participated in making these lapghans. It has been my great hope that many other settlers would also wish to participate, making and creating expressions of love and compassion for survivors in their local communities.

This is one of my personal commitments to reconciliation; if this speaks to your heart, please feel free to share and link back to the pattern on the website where other resources and video tutorials may be found. Thank you for considering this act of reconciliation and perhaps it will become one of yours too.

Huy tseep q’u sii’em nu siiye’yu (thank you, all my respected friends).

The finished lapghan is approximately 38 x 38 inches.