JIBC Police Academy issues call for Indigenous artists

The Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) Police Academy is issuing a call for Indigenous artists to design artwork to express its commitment to strengthening its relationships with Indigenous communities served by the police agencies for which it trains recruits. 

The JIBC Police Academy trains recruits for all municipal police departments in B.C., Metro Vancouver Transit Police, and the Stlʼatlʼimx Tribal Police Service. Officers from these departments serve diverse communities across the province, stretching from Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland, to Nelson. Its commitment to its relationships with Indigenous communities include incorporating Indigenous cultural safety training and Indigenous perspectives and teachings into the police recruit training program.

As a part of its efforts, the JIBC Police Academy, in consultation with the JIBC Office of Indigenization, is commissioning a Coast Salish artist to create a visual representation of this commitment. The project will be to design artwork for the academy’s small fleet of training vehicles to be displayed along with the existing JIBC logo. The artwork would acknowledge the diverse communities of the police agencies the academy serves but also the academy’s core values of justice, safety and community, and the recruit training program’s integral values of integrity, diversity and respect.

The value of the commission for the project is C$3,000 and JIBC will acquire the intellectual property rights of the artwork through a contract with the successful candidate.

Any interested artists are asked to submit a brief (half page maximum) description of their vision for the artwork to policeacademy@jibc.ca by Feb. 1, 2022. Applications will be reviewed by the JIBC Police Academy and the JIBC Office of Indigenization and artists may be contacted to provide further details as required.

For more information, please contact policeacademy@jibc.ca.