A DAY OF CELEBRATION
National Indigenous Peoples Day a chance to learn about, share heritage
Kayla McArthur with Charging Bear Powwow Dancers performs a ladies’ northern-style traditional dance on Thursday during National Indigenous Peoples Day festivities in City Square Plaza. A large crowd took in the events honouring Indigenous culture.
People of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds flooded into Victoria Park on Thursday to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day.
The Charging Bear powwow group demonstrated various traditional Indigenous dances to an enthusiastic audience under the sunny first-day-of-summer sky. The handmade outfits flashed their bright colours as the dancers moved to the beat of four drummers and singers.
Off to the side of the dancers were a few booths, including Grace Stanley’s, where she was selling her handmade beadwork.
Stanley said she has been beading since she was 12 years old. Her mom and older sisters were all beaders too, and now Stanley is excited to see her daughter begin to bead.
National Indigenous Peoples Day is a chance to “respect different ways of living,” she said.
“It’s just honouring the First Nations people, and the heritage and the culture.”
Near by, George Fayant had a small version of a Red River cart he had built. He was proud to say that all of his grandparents were Metis.
“(The Red River cart) symbolized ... the disappearance of our heritage and culture and traditions, and that’s exactly what happened with the Red River cart when the trains came,” he said.
“There was no need for Red River carts anymore. The trains did all the freighting.”
He explained that Red River carts were built solely out of wood — without nails, screws or glue — and that they were used from the early 1800s to the early 1900s.
The Royal Saskatchewan Museum has been celebrating National Indigenous History Month throughout June. Theresa Walter, First Nations program specialist at the museum, said staff wanted to celebrate more than just one day.
The museum had stations showing traditional Indigenous tools and toys, a birch bark biting station where children could learn about the traditional art form, and a table by the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society showing various pieces of pottery and other artifacts.
Walter hopes celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day will help everyone better understand Indigenous peoples.
“As we move forward, we need to understand each other and we need to appreciate where we have all come from and where we’re going,” she said.
“The thing with people is to just understand how much of a contribution we have been to the development of Canada. You know, not just shadowy, background figures of Canadian history in terms of working with or helping the fur traders or the settlers when they first came.”
As for reconciliation, Walter said we’re still in the beginning stages, but progress is being made.
“We’re on a road together, and I’m not sure where, because everybody’s in different places,” she said. “It’s up to individuals to learn and to accept and to move forward. That’s how we get to the point of reconciliation.”
The City of Regina Archives also launched its 150 stories timeline on Thursday.
“The interactive timeline provides an Indigenous perspective from pre-contact to present day. The stories share the wisdom and personal reflections of Indigenous residents of Regina and surrounding areas,” said a press release.
Another announcement made in the spirit of the day was the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) expansion of its mentorship program for Indigenous postsecondary students. This program gives Indigenous students in science, technology, engineering and math fields a chance to connect with an SRC mentor and gain work experience through a summer job with the organization.