June 21st is not only the Summer Solstice, but it is the day we celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day here in Canada. As a new transplant to Mohkintsis, I was very happy to take in three events across the City of Calgary yesterday. All the events I attended displayed the beauty and resilience of Indigenous culture and also showed me Calgary is a community that is working hard to be inclusive to all cultures.
My first stop of the day was at Olympic plaza where I took in the mini Pow Wow facilitated by Arts Commons and the Four Winds Indigenous Market and Showcase. You can see Four Winds founder Tony Tootoosis and his opening remarks and an honor song from Sorell Rider here:
I was also able to witness the Grand Entry and take in all the beauty of Indigenous Dance as well as some deadly drumming and singing by host drum Sorrell Rider from the Siksika Nation. You can see the Grand Entry here:
You can find out more about the Four Winds Market here, https://www.facebook.com/people/Four-Winds-Indigenous-Showcase-Market/100078083526026/
You can check out more about Arts Commons here, https://www.artscommons.ca/
The next event I attended was the Indigenous Celebration Circle at the Sunalta Community Hall. This event was facilitated by Cups Calgary and there was an Indigenous artists market and our friends from the SoberCrew Calgary brought their drum and performed traditional songs for the community. The event was even deadlier when they served the community a meal of soup and bannock. The area was filled with smiling faces, and it was great to see members of the vulnerable community able to hear the healing power of the drum.
You can see the SoberCrew Calgary Drummers and Singers here:
You can learn more about Cups Calgary here, https://www.cupscalgary.com/
You can learn more about the SoberCrew Calgary here, https://www.facebook.com/groups/727357457935474/
The final event I attended was Campfire Chats: A Celebration of Indigenous Music facilitated by the University of Calgary and Heritage Park,
Performers included:
- Craig Ginn, Métis recording artist and UCalgary professor
- Olivia Tail Feathers, traditional singer/songwriter from the Blood Tribe/Kainai Nation
- Sandra Sutter, Cree Métis recording artist
- Rod Hunter and his drum group Eya-Hey Nakoda from Stoney Nakoda Nation
You can check out Eya-Hey starting the event off in a good way, here:
I also had the opportunity to speak with Strategic Communications Manager Dominic Terry of Heritage Park and we spoke of the importance of partnerships as we work towards reconciliation. You can hear his remarks here:
Here are a few pictures to see the smiling faces at this great event.
You can find out more about Campfire chats put on by the U of C here: https://ucalgary.ca/indigenous/campfire-chats-2023
and you can find out more about Heritage Park here: https://heritagepark.ca/
All in all it was an amazing experience to get out in the community and see so many great displays of Indigenous Culture all across Mohkintsis! It was definitely a good day to be Indigenous.
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