Red bison at Centre of Canada symbol of hope, strength, resilience

The newly erected red bison at the Centre of Canada is a symbol of Canada, hope, strength, and resilience.

The bison was installed in early October in the RM of Tache as part of an installation by the Toba Centre for Children and Youth’s Bison On The Boulevard endeavour, a 2025 community art initiative fundraiser supporting Toba Centre and young people impacted by child abuse.

“Initially, it was going to be really focused on a fundraising campaign,…but what it actually morphed into, which was really quite phenomenal, was being more of an outdoor art display. And it was sort of a beautiful combination of being both a fundraiser for our organization, an awareness builder for our organization, but also a really amazing way to share the stories of why we do the work we do,” said CEO Christy Dzikowicz.

Twenty-five artists from around the province submitted their designs to the organization and how they wanted to tell the story of childhood resilience, struggle, and community when it comes to abuse. The bison were then displayed on Roblin Boulevard in Winnipeg before finding homes within communities such as Winnipeg, Headingley, St Francois-Xavier, Brandon, and Winkler.

Unlike the other bison, the red bison at the Centre of Canada didn’t have a sponsor and initially artist Oluuji Olusoga thought no one wanted it, but said the Toba Centre decided to sponsor it and placed it at the Centre of Canada.

“It’s incredible…I thought that’s better than any sponsorship deal that I could get, because it feels like I’m being entered into Canadian history. And as an artist, that’s something I really take as a mission. I want to be known as a Canadian artist,” said Olusoga.

Olusoga is originally from Nigeria and his introduction to what a bison was came through the animated series The Last Airbender, where the main character has a six-legged flying bison named Appa. It wasn’t until he moved to Manitoba that the artist saw a real bison.

Titled as Prairie Appa, the bison is painted red to symbolize Canada and missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people, with the viewer looking into the bison and seeing the prairie landscape of a farming scene, and crocuses.

“I want that childlike awe to be there (when people look at it), because one of the main things I try to keep in mind the whole time while I’m making it is that this is for the children, as what Toba Center does.”

“And I hope people can think of what Toba Center does, or at least think of children and think of protecting them and thinking of the curiosity that children have, when they look at the work. It’s supposed to be silly and playful,” said Olusoga.

Both Olusoga and Dzikowicz realize the significance of having the bison at a nationally and internationally recognized location.

“The morning of the ceremony, I think the mayor (of Tache) and Christy were saying that there was people from France there. They were on a tourist bus, and they just stopped there. So, I’m starting to understand that’s the type of attention that the Center of Canada receives. It’s less about the people of Winnipeg and more about Canada as a whole because of what it represents for Canada and it’s really exciting to have my work in such a location,” said Olusoga.

“For us at Toba Center, to have it in such a visible place where so many different people stop and will see it and hopefully look more into the background of the story, but for the artist as well, to see his art displayed in such an important space, it was just a really cool opportunity to do that,” said Dzikowicz.

The Toba Centre reports that consistently there are 4,000 child abuse investigations taking place annually in Manitoba. In 2025/26, Toba Centre served 75 children and youth from the Eastman region, representing 9.3 percent of all children and youth served. Eastman was the third highest region for the number of children and youth served, following Winnipeg and Northern Manitoba. Dzikowicz said this doesn’t mean there is necessarily more child abuse happening in Eastman, rather that there is more reporting of it happening.

“But the reality is, as much as we’d like there to be less child abuse going on, we actually want to see our numbers go up because we want kids to be coming and getting services and support in the environment that we’ve created for them,” she said, noting sexual abuse is the number one reported form of abuse happening to children in the province, followed by physical abuse, and witnessing violence, domestic abuse, and homicide.

Dzikowicz, who is a social worker and used to work in child welfare, said most abuse goes unreported and when it does get reported the victim is usually an adult already, which is why awareness initiatives like the red bison at the Centre of Canada are so important.

She said the centre is a safe and comfortable place where children can come to speak with police, social workers, victim advocates, and doctors.

“Toba Centre is an environment that is absolutely built for them so that we can wrap our services around them, that we can all share our knowledge…We really want to minimize any additional harm that comes from some of our system responses. And we want to make sure that we’re taking this opportunity where something’s being investigated and we’re also turning it into an opportunity to help that child grow and return to childhood, which is what we all want,” said Dzikowicz.

The Toba Centre for Children and Youth is Manitoba’s first and only child advocacy centre.

Dzikowicz said the red bison is a symbol of the bison’s natural instinct to face a storm and get through it quickly, which is the strength and bravery seen in every child who comes through Toba’s doors and a community that is willing to face an issue that has been shied away from for a long time.

As October is Child Abuse Awareness Month, Dzikowicz wants people to join the conversation about child abuse and not just for this month but all year round in highlighting this important issue. For the Southeast and the Eastman region, she wants people to know that the centre is there for them.

Originally called Snowflake Place, Toba Centre opened its doors in 2023 at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg after running a $15 million campaign.