Earlier this summer, over 500 students and staff members gathered at Hastings Elementary—part of the Vancouver School Board (VSB)—to learn about the significance of button blankets from Susan Elliott of the Nuxalk Nation. The blankets are created and used by Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, according to VSB, and given as coming-of-age gifts. Each blanket can have more than 3,000 individually hand-sewn buttons on it. “The blankets pass down history from our ancestors,” explained Elliott. “Each blanket takes two to three months to complete.” VSB Indigenous education enhancement worker Denise Pertelson—who is originally from Secwépemc Nation—explained that students did not make or keep anything as part of the learning opportunity: “Their gift is the knowledge they receive [… and] the chance to wear the blankets.”
