Countering hate movements, billboard brings message of love to Okanagan’s LGBTQ2S+ community

A new billboard on display in the Okanagan region is countering hateful anti-LGBTQ2S+ movements with a message of Indigenous love.

With colourful symbols and the words “you belong,” the artwork by Two-Spirit Anishinaabe artist Sarah Jones is now on display in “West Kelowna” — where another billboard that appeared to target LGBTQ2S+ education in schools popped up a few months ago.

Jones comes from Shoal Lake 40 but was born and raised in “Vernon” in syilx homelands. She said she hopes that the message brings a sense of harmony and love to everyone who sees it.

“This billboard is for everybody — it’s not just for 2SLGBT people,” said Jones.

“In the focus group, that was the message we wanted to get out: that we all belong here. We were put on this Earth, and we all belong. So we should all learn to co-exist together.”

Jones got involved in the project earlier this year after answering a callout for local artists for the billboard’s design by Advocacy Canada’s chair and founder, Wilbur Turner.

“Minority groups are being targeted as scapegoats for social and economic issues. The 2SLGBTQIA+ community is experiencing this in the Okanagan,” Advocacy Canada wrote on the billboard’s campaign site.

“[Through] the noise, it can be difficult to remember that love, empathy, and compassion are felt for this community. What is more true than ever in this time, is that love is felt between our 2SLGBTQIA+ siblings.”

This past February, a billboard that went up in “West Kelowna” was described by Turner as “promoting hate” toward the community and educators attempting to create more inclusive spaces in schools. 

That billboard featured the slogan “What are your kids REALLY learning in schools?” and depicted a cartoon image of a masked-up, scowling teacher in front of LGBTQ2S+ flags. It has since been removed.

Earlier this year, there was also a protest outside of the Kelowna Library against a drag queen story time event, which Jones — along with hundreds of others — attended to support the event and counteract the protest.

In that same spirit, Advocacy Canada spearheaded the initiative to create the “You Belong, kʷu yʕayʕát kʷuʔ čn̓k̓ʷɬn̓xiʔm̓ (We all join in together / We are all a part of it together)” billboard. More than $8,000 was raised by local community groups and members to bring the project to life.

Jones’s design features icons that she said are representative of what the Okanagan is to her: a rainbow, an eagle feather, a wild rose, a maple leaf and a strawberry — which in her culture is called ode’imin (heart berry). And at the billboard’s centre is a yellow swallowtail butterfly with the trans flag inside of it.

“Trans lives are human lives,” said Jones, noting that they wanted to honour trans people by putting them in the billboard’s centre because they’ve recently been the targets of hate movements.

In addition to Jones’s design, the billboard also features nsyilxcən, the language spoken by the syilx community. Billboard organizers partnered with xatma sqilxʷ Jasmine Peone, a Westbank First Nation (WFN) member and syilx knowledge holder, to come up with the billboard’s phrase. A pronunciation of kʷu yʕayʕát kʷuʔ čn̓k̓ʷɬn̓xiʔm̓ can be heard here.  

“We really wanted a huge community focus on the syilx community and the fact that we are on syilx land — unceded, ancestral, traditional land,” Jones explained.

The billboard is currently on display in “West Kelowna” along Highway 97, where it will be displayed for southbound traffic until Oct. 15. 

It was first put up along the same highway in “Lake Country” in August — and is set to return there from Oct. 16 to Nov. 12 before returning to “West Kelowna” for its final showing between Nov. 13 to Dec. 10.

Jones said that being part of the You Belong campaign has been a wonderful and unforgettable experience, and is happy to combine her art with activism.

“I feel like I’m finally doing something that matters. It feels really good,” she said.