Jade Davis-Smoke (13, Student, Haudenosaunee of Six Nations, Wolf Clan)

On June 26, 2017, Jade Davis-Smoke walked across the stage, shook hands with her teachers, and graduated grade eight from John Sweeney Catholic School in Kitchener.

It was the moment that every student dreams of. But Jade’s graduation was unique. Amongst a sea of cocktail dresses, suits and ties, high heels, and ringlet curls, Jade arrived to her elementary school graduation wearing traditional Haudenosaunee clothing.

“I told my friends that I was going to wear the clothing. They all thought it was beautiful. My best friend teared up, she was so excited.”

Jade’s decision quickly forced others to reflect on their own cultural roots. “My friend considered wearing her traditional Arabic clothing, but she said she would never feel confident enough to do that. She had already bought a dress.”

Not only did wearing the clothing of her Indigenous heritage instantly make Jade a leader for the future graduates, it also created a foundation for educating her peers. “Most people were supportive and thought it was really unique and confident of me to do it.

Other people didn’t know what it was — they asked me if it was a dress,” she says. “I’ve been approached by many people at the high school I’m going to in September, talking to me as if I was foreign. They say, ‘You’re the girl who was wearing the Native clothes, right? You seem so normal.’ They stereotyped me, because they just don’t know. They’ve never seen it before,” she says.

“I’ve lived in Kitchener for a year, I didn’t come out of the forest or something. I don’t get offended because they just don’t know. They’re not educated on it.”

Jade was unfazed because she was not concerned with making a statement. On a much more personal level, she saw her graduation as an opportunity to represent her family and her culture, and give to her mother something that an Indigenous woman would never have been able to do before now. “My mother taught me to be strong in my identity. I know that my kids will follow me in that way.” Jade’s special offering is not only a first for the Davis-Smoke family, but for the city of Kitchener. Although her older brothers wore traditional clothing to their graduations on the Six Nations Reservation, Jade is possibly the first to wear traditional clothing to graduate from a Catholic school in the region.

“My brothers were so supportive and proud of me. I’ve never been praised by them like that before. I felt so good about doing that for my parents, and having my whole family there. Afterwards, my little sister said she wants to do the same thing when she graduates.”

Every graduate remembers the great sense of accomplishment that they felt as they walked across the stage and were handed their diploma. In the special case of Jade Davis-Smoke, it will always mean a little more.

“It’s just who I am. Everyone was stressing about what they were going to wear, their makeup, and their hair. I knew that as long as I was being myself, I would feel like the prettiest girl in the room.”

‘In that moment, all I could feel was pride. A lot of pride.’