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On Tuesday, February 20, the City of Langford launched a new campaign intended to unite the community and highlight Langford’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The campaign is centred around an updated visual identity of the I AM Langford campaign, initially launched as part of COVID-19 recovery. The updated design was created specifically for the campaign by local Indigenous artist Jeannie Chipps from Sc’ianew First Nation in consultation with the Victoria Pride Society.
The modified design, created by Chipps, features colours from the Progress Pride Flag and a turtle drawn with Chipps’ unique style of traditional Coast Salish art.
The Progress Pride Flag colours combine the traditional rainbow Pride Flag with the Transgender Flag and include colours to represent Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as well as community members who have died from, or are currently living with, HIV/AIDS.
The symbol builds upon Langford’s award-winning “I Am Langford” campaign launched in Summer 2020 to support and bring the local business community and residents together as society emerged from restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Decals will be distributed through the business license system for new commercial businesses. The free decals are available at Langford City Hall for existing Langford businesses to pick up with a copy of their active business license.
About the design
“There are countless stories in Coast Salish culture about the turtle carrying the world on its back, the continent of North America itself is even often called turtle island! This is where I drew a lot of my inspiration from when creating this design. Safety, longevity, and stability are also important symbolic attributes that are related to the turtle which I thought are essential when building and maintaining a community like Langford.
I see it as an incredible honour to be able to fill my design with the pride colours. Both the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and the Indigenous community have been through hard times and have proven to be resilient throughout whatever is placed in front of them and I find so much joy because I am able to unite them within a symbol of love.”
-Jeannie Chipps, Sc’ianew First Nation
I am Langford
In the Summer of 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City launched the Business Recovery Marketing Campaign, “I AM Langford.” The campaign was created to celebrate all things Langford and remind people of the importance and impact of shopping locally.
“I am Langford” was all about ownership. It was about pride, but it also spoke to an inherent strength and resilience that residents and businesses have. It’s enviable, it’s cool and it’s something everybody would be proud to be a part of.
The campaign did more than encourage residents to shop local, it was positioned to be more deeply rooted than that. The campaign used a storytelling approach to connect the entire community together like never before.