Celebrations are starting at the crack of dawn in the Northwest to mark National Indigenous People’s Day.
The day will start with a sunrise ceremony at 6 a.m. in Kenora, according to Serena Kenny, who is with the Kenora Chiefs Advisory and an organizer of the event taking place at their youth and family wellness camp.
“That is to start our day off in a really good way, to make sure that we're bringing everyone in [to be] our best possible selves,” she said. “At 10 a.m. we're going into our traditional opening where we have our grandmother drum joining us along with our elders advisory to come and do an opening prayer and have our opening remarks.”
Kenny said the main events run from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
She said one highlight includes teachings about the teepee.
“We're going to have a demonstration of how to put up a teepee; how to care for that teepee and make sure that it lives as long as a life as it can,” she said.
She said another favourite includes dancing demonstrations.
“This is something we're asked about on a daily basis — what is the honour beat? What are the different styles? What is the significance of the different regalia?” she said. “We have different demonstrations from every type of every style of dance that we have.”
In Dryden, the celebration takes place at the Dryden Memorial Arena.
Cheryl Edwards, the executive director of the Dryden Native Friendship Centre which is organizing the event, said both arenas will be used for the event.
“We are very pleased and excited to be celebrating Indigenous culture again on June 21 and with partnership with many organizations in Dryden,” she said. “We are going to have a number of organizations displaying their information as well as our guest speakers.
Edwards said June 21 is a special day of the year
“Other than being the longest day of the year and that's something that's always been celebrated by indigenous people,” she said. “To celebrate with Canadians and Indigenous people at the same time, showcasing what our culture has to offer and what was denied to us for so many years in Canadian history that when we see reconciliation in this way and for people to have a true understanding of the beauty of our culture is something that, as indigenous people, we are very proud to share.”
"We're all caretakers of this land. We all have to learn from each other,” she added.
Edwards said Dryden’s mayor and leadership from both neighbouring Indigenous communities — Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and Eagle Lake First Nation — will be attending.
She said the free event will include a walking lunch of tacos in a bag and they hope to have a high attendance mark of more than 800 people.
Back in Kenora, Kenny said even more people are expected than last year, which had 1,000 cars, which is why parking will be off site at the Lake of the Woods Speedway for most people to accommodate everyone.
“Parking will be available for anyone with accessibility issues or any of our elders that will be available on site. But otherwise we are partnering with the speedway because to have parking over there.” She said. “We have charter buses actually shuttling people back and forth. We're going to run a very regular shuttle every 15 minutes.”
Other National Indigenous People’s celebrations are taking place in the Northwest include Red Lake, Thunder Bay, and elsewhere across the region.
