The Society’s longest-serving staff member and director of programs was recognized for 22 years of compassionate service and community leadership through a student-led project rooted in intergenerational learning, relationship-building, and reconciliation.
Chilliwack Hospice Society is celebrating a deeply meaningful recognition of its longest-serving staff member, Director of Programs Lucy Fraser, whose 22 years of service to the Society and wider Chilliwack community were honoured through the Chilliwack School District’s Honouring Our Elders Legacy Portrait Project.
Friends encircle Lucy Fraser (seated) at a family tea social in the school library following the Honouring Our Elders ceremony. Photo courtesy of Coletta Holmes.
Fraser was recognized during a Family Tea Social at G.W. Graham Secondary School on Monday, Jun. 15, where a portrait created by student artist Taliyah McLeod was unveiled before family members, friends, students, educators, Indigenous community representatives, and local leaders.
The morning began with drumming and singing by G.W. Graham students, followed by opening remarks from Donna’Lee Irwin, an Indigenous Enhancement teacher with the Chilliwack School District. McLeod then unveiled her portrait of Fraser, with personal remarks shared by Fraser’s close friend and Chilliwack Hospice Society volunteer Elaina Wugalter.
The gathering also honoured Elder Violet George of Ch’íyáqtel (Tzeachten), whose portrait was created by student artist Lilah Gerrits, followed by remarks from Loren Muth on behalf of George’s family. Muth, a Ch’íyáqtel Band Council member, also addressed those gathered, alongside City of Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove, Assistant Superintendent Dave Manuel, and G.W. Graham principal Chuck Lawson. A lunch reception followed in the school library, continuing the opportunity for conversation and connection across generations and communities.
Throughout more than two decades with the Society, Fraser has helped shape and expand grief and bereavement support in Chilliwack while advocating for people whose experiences are too often overlooked, stigmatized, or excluded from conventional systems of support. Her commitment extends beyond individual service delivery to public education, volunteer development, community outreach, and efforts to reduce barriers for people affected by social and systemic inequities.
Portrait of Lucy Fraser by student artist Taliyah McLeod. Photo courtesy of Sue Knott.
As director of programs, Fraser’s responsibilities span one-to-one support, program development, volunteer training, public education, and group facilitation. Her work includes supporting people grieving deaths that may be sudden, traumatic, complex or stigmatized, including deaths by suicide or homicide, deaths from drug poisoning, and fatal workplace incidents.
She also supports people experiencing grief related to pregnancy and infant loss, including miscarriage, abortion, and stillbirth. Across these areas of practice, Fraser has helped create spaces where people can speak openly about grief experiences that may be misunderstood, minimized, or difficult to discuss elsewhere.
Her approach has also taken grief support beyond traditional office and program settings. Fraser has provided outreach to people in correctional settings, treatment and recovery environments, shelters and other community spaces, recognizing that grief is not experienced separately from poverty, housing insecurity, substance use, incarceration, trauma, or other circumstances that can create barriers to support. That willingness to meet people where they are has been a defining part of Fraser’s work.
The Chilliwack School District developed its local project through collaboration between its Indigenous Education Department and school art teachers, with support and guidance from the original Honouring Our Elders Legacy Project established in northern B.C. at Smithers Secondary School.
The original project was created to build understanding and support reconciliation through art and relationship. It brings students into a process of listening, learning, and portrait-making that connects generations and communities. The coordinating team behind the original project was recognized through the British Columbia Reconciliation Award, a partnership of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia and the BC Achievement Foundation. Government House describes the initiative as one intended to bridge divides, deepen understanding, and engage reconciliation through art.
Taliyah McLeod (left) and Lucy Fraser stand beside her portrait. Photo courtesy of Sue Knott.
At the heart of the project was also a relationship between a student artist and the person whose story she was entrusted to represent. Through McLeod’s portrait, Fraser’s years of service have been interpreted by a young artist and made part of an enduring public display at G.W. Graham Secondary School. The district has confirmed that the portraits will remain permanently displayed at the participating schools alongside plaques sharing information about those honoured.
Fraser’s portrait will stand as a lasting recognition of a community contribution that continues every day — in quiet conversations, in circles of support, in volunteer learning, in public education, and wherever someone grieving needs to know they do not have to walk alone.
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