I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be Canadian in these divisive times.
When I fill out surveys asking about ethnicity or religion, I often write simply: Canadian. Not because I’m denying where my family came from or what I believe, but because I’ve come to realize that being Canadian is something unique and powerful.
Canada offers something rare in this world: the genuine possibility of belonging. You can arrive here from anywhere, and truly become Canadian - not just on paper, but in spirit. Your heritage, faith, and history don’t disappear; they become part of the beautiful, complicated mosaic that is this country.
But with that belonging comes responsibility. We can - and should - care about injustices around the world. We can speak up for what’s right. But here at home, we need to remember: we’re neighbours first. We share this land, these winters, these hopes for our kids.
When conflicts rage elsewhere, we don’t have to import the hatred here. We can honour our roots while choosing a different path forward - together.
That’s the Canadian promise. And right now, we need it more than ever.
This a great conversation and something I am intrigued with. What does it mean to people in Canada to be Canadian? I am collecting stories as research for an art project.
David, as previously communicated, we are removing your post but look forward to you replacing it with an update that fits within our guidelines.
Than you
My (revised) Proud Canadian Pedestrian project proposal speaks to the historical and cultural enjoyment of Canadian citizens to come together in nature and hike or walk thru the vast and beautiful land we all call Canada. As Canadian citizens our heritage of helping raise a barn for a neighbor, to collaborating on building a railway and a highway from coast to coast. Less well known but highly commendable is the existing Trans Canada Trail. In the spirit of Canadian Pride of Place I propose a project that would invite artist to participate in a appreciation of the TCT by posting images and artwork inspired by visits to the nearby section of the TCT. Artists would indicate location and describe their visit with artwork that falls within the guidelines of art bridge and at the end of the initial project we could connect the dots and submit the linked artwork to https://tctrail.ca/ I’ll take the first step with my Musetry project which highlights images from the Vancouver Island portion of the TCT FREEDOM PATH Video Project 5
I appreciate your interest in the Trans Canada Trail as artistic inspiration. For ArtBridge, let’s keep this focused on the creative/artistic aspects rather than political themes.
What I’m hearing: artists creating work inspired by their local TCT sections, then mapping these contributions geographically. That’s a solid collaborative art concept.
To move forward, let’s clarify the artistic framework:
What visual/creative themes are you proposing? (e.g., seasonal landscapes, trail textures, human interaction with nature)
What media are you inviting?
How does your Musetry project exemplify what you’re looking for from other participants?
The ‘FREEDOM PATH’ framing feels like it introduces unnecessary messaging. Could we simply call this something like ‘TCT Artist Documentation Project’ or ‘Mapping the Trail Through Art’? Keep it about the artistic exploration of place, not the symbolism.
Thank you for revising and for the care you’ve taken to refocus the project. We appreciate the emphasis on the Trans Canada Trail as a shared national resource and on artists responding creatively to the places they encounter.
For ArtBridgeCanada, the key dimension we’re always looking to support is community engagement for artists - how creative work connects people to one another, not just to place. If you’d like to share this project here, we encourage you to frame it in terms of how artists might connect through their experiences of the trail: what they notice, what they share, and how their work becomes part of a collective conversation rather than a set of individual postings.
In other words, what makes this an ArtBridgeCanada project is not only the subject (the TCT), but the way artists participate together - through reflection, exchange, and mutual recognition.
If you’d be willing to shape your post with that emphasis in mind, we’d be glad to have it shared on the platform.
For ArtBridgeCanada, our interest in the TCT is shaped by our “Community First, Commerce Follows” philosophy. The primary focus is not only on artists responding to the trail as individuals, but on encouraging artists to connect with their local communities through their section of the trail and to tell local stories rooted in those places.
Our vision is that artists would collaborate:
• with people in their own communities, and
• with other artists across regions,
so the project becomes a network of shared experiences rather than a collection of separate postings.
What makes this an ArtBridgeCanada project is therefore not just the subject (the TCT), but the way it supports community engagement, exchange, and mutual recognition among artists and communities.
If you’re open to framing your project in that spirit - emphasizing local collaboration and shared storytelling - we’d be glad to explore how it might fit within that approach.
Thank you again for working with us on this.
We can look at the feedback others provide and see what might emerge.
For Canadians of all walks of life, getting out in nature is a cultural pastime. It’s who we are as a people, it’s where we live in the vast natural environment we call Canada. Our history of taming the wilderness, helping each other survive nature, forging a trail across North America from East to West remains a common thread in our lives as Canadians in 2026
With that said, ArtBridgeCanada is proud to host the Common Ground Art Path Project. The project is an invitation for Canadian artists to contribute to a national tapestry that will weave your colors into a common thread that is the TCT in 2026. The Trans Canada Trail (TCT) remains common ground that is accessible across Canada and it is this common thread that will stich the CGAP project together and create a collaborative work of art.
Like the craftwork of the past where individuals would contribute a square to the quilt to be sown together and create a quilt to be given to someone in need, the CGAP will create a digital scarf that can be worn by Canadians from sea to sea to sea.
For artists already on the path, please contribute, for artists emerging …focus! for single moms on the TCT harvesting rose hips for tea with your daughter, please share, for others in Canada, donate to the best-case cause, all inclusive Common Ground Art Path, We are all artists. We are all Canadians on the Trans Canada Trail.
For Canadians of all walks of life, getting out in nature is a cultural pastime. It’s who we are as a people, it’s where we live in the vast natural environment we call Canada. Our history of taming the wilderness, helping each other survive nature, forging a trail across North America from East to West remains a common thread in our lives as Canadians in 2026
With that said, ArtBridgeCanada is proud to host the Common Ground Art Path Project. The project is an invitation for Canadian artists to contribute to a national tapestry that will weave your colors into a common thread that is the TCT in 2026. The Trans Canada Trail (TCT) remains common ground that is accessible across Canada and it is this common thread that will stich the CGAP project together and create a collaborative work of art.
Like the craftwork of the past where individuals would contribute a square to the quilt to be sown together and create a quilt to be given to someone in need, the CGAP will create a digital scarf that can be worn by Canadians from sea to sea to sea.
For artists already on the path, please contribute, for artists emerging …focus! for single moms on the TCT harvesting rose hips for tea with your daughter, please share, for others in Canada, donate to the best-case cause, all inclusive Common Ground Art Path, We are all artists. We are all Canadians on the Trans Canada Trail.
Thank you for continuing to think creatively about how artists might engage with the Trans Canada Trail.
At this stage, it’s important to clarify process and structure.
ArtBridgeCanada has not adopted or approved a “Common Ground Art Path” project, and we are not in a position to present it publicly as an ArtBridgeCanada-hosted initiative. Decisions about national projects are made through our organizational planning and governance processes, not through individual proposals posted to the forum.
When we explore a Trans Canada Trail–related initiative, it is within our Community First, Commerce Follows framework. That means the focus is on:
• artists connecting with their local communities,
• telling local stories through their section of the trail, and
• collaborating with other artists in a way that supports community engagement rather than simply aggregating individual contributions.
If you wish to propose a project for consideration, it needs to be framed as a concept for discussion, not as an ArtBridgeCanada project already underway or endorsed.
For now, we ask that any posts about this remain clearly personal or exploratory in nature and not presented as an ArtBridgeCanada initiative.