Indigenous artists sought to represent LPS values in Blackfoot

By Lethbridge Herald on April 13, 2023.

Deputy Chief Gerald Grobmeier thanks Trissly Blackwater for leading the initiative of translating the Lethbridge Police Service’s values into Blackfoot on Thursday at the police station. Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Police Service is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) from local Indigenous artists for a project that will visually represent the translation of their organizational values into Blackfoot.

During a media availability Thursday, LPS Deputy Chief Gerald Grobmeier publicly thanked LPS 2022-2023 Community Futures Treaty 7 summer student, Trissly Blackwater for leading the initiative. 

“She served as the lead on this initiative, and I like to take this opportunity to publicly recognize for her vision, her hard work and commitment. She has demonstrated a maturity and wisdom well beyond her years and we’re pretty proud to have her as part of our team,” said Grobmeier. 

He said Blackwater has worked in partnership with local Elders to have LPS’ organizational values translated into Blackfoot to honour the culture and contributions of the Blackfoot and other Indigenous people of our community, acknowledge the jurisdiction they serve is located on Blackfoot territory and strengthen their relationship with the Blackfoot people.  

“We are looking to have our visual representation of these values created and will be displayed in the police station and incorporated within the service publications and other materials that highlight who we are and what we believe,” said Grobmeier. 

The process to submit an EOI is open to post-secondary students from the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika First Nations. Eligible artists must be 18 years of age or older and registered as a post-secondary student during the preceding academic semester.

“All EOIs will be reviewed by a panel that includes members of the LPS Indigenous Advisory Committee and shortlisted artists will be required to provide one work of art in a digital medium. Once the submissions have been received, one design will be selected and the artist will receive a $500 bursary,” said Grobmeier. 

The values translated into Blackfoot are: 

– Respect – Inakootsiiyssini

– Courage – Iikitapiiysini

– Professionalism – Okamotapotakssini (doing your job right)

– Accountability – Ohkottsstakata (to be able to depend on each other)

– Collaboration – Isspomaanitapiiysinni (helping others)

“The translation of our values into Blackfoot is the first in our service’s history and we are extremely excited to work through this process and incorporate the final design into the organization,” said Grobmeier. 

Blackwater spoke to media after Grobmeier to explain the process that took place when coming up with the initiative. 

“It first started last year in May when I brought this idea forward to my manager Kristen and she gave me the opportunity to present this initiative to the executive board. After I met with them, I told them that I wanted to have the Blackfoot values presented inside the police station and so with Lethbridge Police they already have their values set in place, so what the chief had asked is if we could translate these values,” said Blackwater. 

She said they only needed to translate two of them as there were already three values in there that aligned with Blackfoot values. 

“We brought in one of our Elders, Patrick Black Plume, from the Blood Reserve and he helped us with translating these values. After we got the translation going, we wanted to have a design to represent these values inside the police station. I’m not an artist myself and I know we have many talented Blackfoot artists from the Blood Reserve, so I wanted to do a call for artists,” said Blackwater.

The deadline to submit an Expression of Interest is April 24. 

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