Brenda Crabtree Appointed to Order of British Columbia
Brenda Crabtree (centre) gazes up at the Pacific Song of the Ancestors totem pole during the unveiling ceremony at Emily Carr University in 2023. (Photo by Perrin Grauer)
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The artist, curator, mentor, cultural consultant, educator and knowledge keeper was recognized as a “pivotal figure in Indigenous art and culture.”
Brenda Crabtree (Xyolholemo:t) is a 2024 appointee to the Order of British Columbia (OBC).
The former Director of Aboriginal Programs and Special Advisor to the President on Indigenous Initiatives at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) was recognized as an “enduring champion” for Indigenous artists and her development of “groundbreaking” Indigenous art programs.
“I had the honour of being able to work with Brenda during her last few years at ECU,” says artist Sydney Frances Pascal (MFA 2023), who works as Aboriginal Programs coordinator at ECU. “She showed me the power and importance of cultivating and creating meaningful relationships with our Indigenous communities both here and around the world. She created space for me to explore that power. In turn, I can share those experiences, relationships and knowledge with our Indigenous students and ECU community, now and into the future.”
In addition to her support for interconnection amongst BC’s Indigenous communities, Brenda is known for her leadership in fostering cultural exchanges with international Indigenous communities, including in New Zealand and Hawaii. These include the Meymey’em Indigenous Artist Gathering at ECU in 2022, which brought more than two dozen celebrated practitioners to the university and gave the public an opportunity to view various practices, including carving, fibre arts and mixed media, tanning and dyeing, beading, quills and tufting, and painting and printmaking.
Brenda (left) and ECU Chancellor Carleen Thomas unveil the Pacific Song of the Ancestors totem pole in September, 2023. (Photo by Perrin Grauer)
It was during Meymey’em that lauded Master Carvers Dempsey Bob (Tahltan-Tlingit), Lyonel Grant (Māori and Pakeha) and Stan Bevan (Tahltan-Tlingit and Tsimshian) completed the Pacific Song of the Ancestors totem pole — a project Brenda had led with Dempsey for most of a decade before the pole was raised at ECU in 2023.
Brenda was also the driving force behind initiatives including the groundbreaking SSHRC-funded Decolonizing Cultural Safety Education Through Cultural Connections project, aimed at addressing racism in healthcare and improving health outcomes for Indigenous people through creativity and dialogue.
“Here at ECU, Brenda has been a transformative figure,” says Diyan Achjadi, Interim Vice-President Academic + Provost. “She first brought Aboriginal Programs to ECU in the 1990s, helping establish broader legitimacy for a long-marginalized field of study. She built the Aboriginal Gathering Place into the beating heart of the university. She ensured Indigenous students had a safe, culturally appropriate space to learn, eat, connect and thrive. And she did so with trademark warmth, generosity, humour, and fierce intelligence. The impact of her legacy at ECU is nothing short of astounding.”
Brenda’s influence on the arts community is by no means limited to her work at ECU, as the OBC’s citation observes.
“A pivotal figure in Indigenous art and culture, [Brenda] has dedicated over 40 years to revitalizing and promoting Indigenous heritage,” reads the OBC’s biography of Brenda. “Influenced by her personal experience and heritage, Brenda has been instrumental in reconnecting Indigenous artists with their culture, overcoming the legacy of Residential Schools.”
A cedar basket woven by Brenda's grandmother, Matilda Andrews (pictured), in We Carry Our Ancestors: Cedar Baskets and Our Relationship to the Land, an exhibition at the Legacy Art Gallery in Victoria, BC, featuring the work of Brenda along with other Indigenous artists. Matilda taught Brenda to weave -- a tradition Brenda dedicated herself to educating others about. (Image courtesy Lorilee Wastasecoot / Legacy Art Gallery)
The OBC notes her role as a founding supporter of the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art, with which she facilitated an agreement to establish educational pathways to ECU for Indigenous students. She has also supported Indigenous artists through her work with the YVR Art Foundation, the BC Reconciliation Award and the BC Achievement Foundation, playing a key role in the First Nations Art award program and the establishment of the Crabtree McLennan Emerging Artist designation.
Her “tireless advocacy and support” for Indigenous artists both locally and internationally ensures the preservation and advancement of Indigenous culture for future generations, the OBC says.
“For me, it’s all about community outreach,” Brenda said in 2020. “The sharing and the transfer of cultural knowledge, I learned that from my grandmother. And I know how important education is. Even though traditional knowledge is relevant, we live between these worlds of traditional knowledge and contemporary knowledge.”
After nearly 25 years at ECU, Brenda retired in 2023.
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