About Us
Colouring It Forward is a social entreprise including a not-for-profit organization called CIF Reconciliation Society and a business called Colouring It Forward Inc. The purpose of the social enterprise is to advance education on indigenous issues, art, language and culture through a grassroots approach.
CIF Reconciliation Society works in collaboration with organizations such as IndigeSTEAM, Stardale Women’s Group, and more to deliver art-based workshops and events that provide education on Indigenous ways of knowing and promote healing and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. We organize an annual Orange Shirt Day Walk and Event called Pokaiks the Children.
Upcoming programming includes the Language Apps program for Indigenous Youth which we are organizing in partnership with IndigeSTEAM, and Red Iron Labs.
Diana Frost
The Inspiration behind Colouring It Forward
Greetings to all my relations
Originally from Quebec, Diana spent her teenage years in Western Africa which was an early awakening to different cultures and the difficulties of living in a developing country
Following that experience, she obtained a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Sherbrooke with the intention of helping people to improve their standard of living by working on water and sanitation projects.
Her first job was with Enbridge in Edmonton, where she also became the youngest Rotarian of her club, the Edmonton Avenue of Nations Rotary Club, at age 26. She left Edmonton to work as a volunteer in Peru for two years on optimizing existing water and sewer systems.
At the end of her contract, she came back to Alberta to work for CAWST with whom she pioneered train the trainer programs on household water treatment projects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Diana then worked on water distribution and treatment systems for consulting engineering firms in Calgary and joined the Rotary Club of Calgary Olympic.
Aside from being an engineer, Diana is a metis with a small "m", a mixture of Algonquin, French, English, Scottish and Spanish ancestry. She is also an artist, and a musician. In the spring of 2016, one morning she woke up from a dream that had showed her the way to help Indigenous people by founding the Colouring It Forward project.
Our board members are elder Joyce Healy, elder Marilyn Shingoose, Tapisa Kilabuk, Oli Siska, Victoria Marchbank and Diana Frost.
COLOURING IT FORWARD
“We come from all walks of life, all cultures, belief systems, nations. We have distinct languages, spiritual beliefs, values and ways of life. However, we all walk on this great Mother Earth and breathe the same air. We need to communicate and learn about the past, heal the hurts together and support and respect each other going forward. Join us to help build a better future for all our children. All my relations”
Testimonials
The Colouring It Forward launch is such a positive step forward during the time of truth and reconciliation. What better way to learn more about our neighbour nations and the Blackfoot culture than through image, creativity, and story."
Wow! This book was not what I expected. I had intended to give it to my grandson. Not anymore! I'm keeping it for myself. This book is a genre bender. Biography, Native American culture, self-help, coloring book (lots of beautifully rendered images) and journal all wrapped up in one! I can't praise it enough!"
Diana's Colouring books combine the beauty of Native Artwork with cultural education for all - and are incredibly well received by all who look at them. They are unique in this area because of the talented Canadian Native artists who are featured, their stories, and the cultural knowledge also provided. The fact that she shares the proceeds with her artists to help establish them as artists and promotes them personally is just one more amazing aspect of these fantastic books!"