New Sudbury mural more than a just a statement in city's downtown

Sudbury mural makes important statement A street in Sudbury's downtown has become home to a new street mural that carries with it quite a statement. CTV's Ian Campbell reports.

Sudbury — One of Sudbury's biggest and brightest murals is promoting more than just a single statement in the city's downtown core.

Sudburians woke up Monday morning to find their commute across Elgin Street looking a little different. One of Sudbury's more busier streets had the words "BIPOC LIVES MATTER" painted across it in both official languages.

It was painted on Sunday and spearheaded by the Sudbury chapter of Black Lives Matter, after its co-president Ra'anaa Brown saw something similar in Montreal.

"It was one of the first ones done in French, so on a whim I sent it to one of the co-founders of the UpHere festival in Sudbury and said 'haha, how about this in Sudbury' on a whim, and she replied back 'let's do it," said Brown.

Brown said they worked with Fierte Sudbury Pride, Place des Arts and UpHere to get the ball rolling.

It took them the better part of Sunday to paint and finish the mural. Indigenous artist Will Morin was also invited to paint medicine wheels on either side of the piece.

"It really embodies the diversity of the community and it really embodies these marginalized people, so it was all about bringing together these groups," said Brown. "Everyone was supporting us in this, so it was like I'm so glad we were able to represent so many groups of people within this two-sentence project."

Promoting inclusivity

Each letter is painted a different colour to represent one of the marginalized groups. They've used colours from the Afri-Caribbean flag, the LGBTQ flag and the Trans flag and they used the word BIPOC, meaning black indigenous and people of colour.

They're hopeful the mural will promote more than just a statement and will also promote inclusivity.

"The level of work that had gone into it was really a reflection of all the communities involved in it," said Darius Garneau, also of Black Lives Matter. "We got volunteers from the Indigenous and native friendship centre, right, and they took care of the pieces on the side. We got a group from pride to help sponsor and come out and paint."

The group said they worked with the city to obtain the necessary permits to complete the installation and used water-based paints. Organizers hope it will last throughout the winter months.

CTV News reached out to the mayor for a comment on Elgin Street mural and didn't hear back before the broadcast deadline.