British ColumbiaAfter vandals defaced the Treaty 8 office in Fort St. John with racist graffiti, Cree artist Alisa Parenteau picked up her paintbrush and responded with colour, leading a new wave of public art making a splash across the city.City’s downtown bursts with colour as vibrant new murals celebrate Indigenous resilience and creative renewalMatt Preprost · CBC News · Posted: Oct 06, 2025 8:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 9The Treaty 8 mural, painted by Cree artist Alisa Parenteau, is pictured in downtown Fort St. John, B.C. (Matt Preprost/CBC)Turn the corner toward the Treaty 8 office building on 100 Avenue in downtown Fort St. John, B.C., and you’ll be met by the towering figure of a Cree woman, painted in vibrant hues of blue, yellow, and deep forest green.She holds a bronze medallion bearing an image of two men shaking hands to mark the signing of Treaty 8, Canada’s largest treaty territory, which stretches through northern B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.”She’s not anyone in particular, but she’s all of us,” said Alisa Parenteau, 34, the Cree artist from Dawson Creek who created the mural this past summer.In February, the wall, which had an orange “Every Child Matters” sign, was defaced with swastikas, as well as a profanity targeting kids.An image shared by Marlene Roy shows graffiti spray painted onto the Treaty 8 office building with the words, ‘F–k ur kids’ partially blurred by CBC. (Submitted by Marlene Roy)Rather than paint over the tags in plain green, the Treaty 8 Tribal Association and Parenteau partnered up, and chose a bolder palette of colours.”[We] just wanted to combat the hatred and the racism with something that was powerful,” said Parenteau. “For anybody who sees it, I hope that they love it, and I hope that it brings a smile to their face to have something bright and beautiful on the wall instead of hate symbols.”Parenteau says the images in the mural first came to her in a dream in 2021, while she was recovering from a bad car accident. She says turning the street corner now to see the mural completed, “almost brings tears to my eyes, to see my dream come to life, literally.”Cree artist Alisa Parenteau next to her Treaty 8 mural in downtown Fort St. John. (Matt Preprost/CBC)Parenteau hopes the mural invites a better understanding of the Indigenous peoples who have called the region home for thousands of years.”All the people that have been here before Fort St. John was the city that it is today —understanding that we helped build what it is today,” she said. “We’re here and we’re not really going anywhere. We’re here to help build more and contribute more to the town.”Alisa Parenteau works on the Treaty 8 mural in downtown Fort St. John. (Submitted by Alisa Parenteau)Music on the wallThe Treaty 8 mural is part of a wave of public art making a splash in Fort St. John this year. A few blocks away, another summer mural project transformed the side of a local radio station into a celebration of music.On that wall, vinyl records spin across a bright blue background. Silhouettes painted in orange and purple gradients dance and reach toward a shining silver microphone.”People have more respect for spaces when they see that they’re treated with care,” said Francine Freeman, who mentored a group of six local artists on the collaboration. “Generally, vandalism doesn’t occur on top of murals because there’s a general respect between artists, whether they’re taggers or they’re street artists.”Francine Freeman, an art teacher at the Chalo School on the Fort Nelson First Nation, leads a mural project in downtown Fort St. John. (Matt Preprost/CBC)An art teacher at the Chalo School on the Fort Nelson First Nation, Freeman has seen first hand how murals can lift the mood of a community. In 2024, she gathered her students and other wildfire evacuees from Fort Nelson to paint a mural on the Emergency Support Services centre in Fort St. John.LISTEN | B.C. art teacher, students displaced by wildfire paint mural to thank host community:Radio West7:55Fort Nelson art teacher Francine Freeman is gathering her students and other wildfire evacuees in Fort St. John to paint a mural on the ESS centreFort Nelson art teacher Francine Freeman is gathering her students and other wildfire evacuees in Fort St. John to paint a mural on the ESS centreBarb Daley, one of the artists who took part in the project alongside Freeman, called the city’s new murals “inspiring and uplifting.””Because we have such a long, dark winter, we really need all the visual stimulation we can get,” Daley said. “I find that I need a light box all winter and this is similar, because you’re using colour to revitalize yourself.”For Parenteau, public art has the power to build and celebrate community.”Art has a way to speak to your soul in a way that words can’t sometimes,” she said.A new music mural in downtown Fort St. John. (Matt Preprost/CBC)ABOUT THE AUTHORMatt Preprost is a reporter with CBC British Columbia based in Fort St. John, covering stories focused on the Peace Region and Northern Rockies. Email him at mathew.preprost@cbc.ca
Treaty 8 mural transforms vandalized wall in Fort St. John
