Indigenous artwork on display at region’s airport this spring

The Region of Waterloo International Airport is getting some new Indigenous artwork.

This spring, three murals created by a group of selected Indigenous artists will be on display inside the domestic arrivals building. It’s the first Indigenous art project the region has taken on for 2025.

The municipality also plans to introduce an Indigenous languages greeting wall in the next few months, featuring about eight different languages found in the region.

The main goal of the project is to honour the culture, history and traditions of the land the airport is on. Both will be available for viewing for the next three years.

“There are so many new people coming through the airport, it’s a way to ground them in the foundation of the lands,” said the Director of Truth and Reconciliation, Region of Waterloo, Paula Whitlow.

Whitlow helped determine which artists should be chosen for “Honoring These Lands and Waterways,” wanting to stay local for the three murals.

“There was an Anishinaabe specific and then Haudenosaunee and Six Nations because those were the two treaty partners on the land. Then because you have such a robust, urban indigenous art community, we also put a call out for urban Indigenous specific to the region as well,” mentioned Whitlow.

“We found out there was a large Mi’kmaq population in the region tied to one of the universities, I believe. So, it took almost a year’s work of doing research and that community engagement to make sure we got it right.”

Whitlow said the idea is to bring Indigenous voices back to the region that may have been hidden away.

The airport is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year in the region. Through research, Whitlow mentioned there’s been archeology work done that shows around 7,500 years Indigenous people occupied the land – making the airport a special place for transportation.