National Indigenous History Month is a time to recognize the heritage, resilience, and diversity of the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Peoples.
In DDA residential, we wanted to celebrate as many events as we could in the month of June to grow and learn to show our respect for Indigenous Peoples in the spirit of reconciliation.
It started off with a Pow Wow celebration at Trout Lake Community Center honoring grandmothers, mothers, and daughters on Mother’s Day. Julie went with the staff at Worthington and the feedback was it was exceptional. This led to a goal to find another Pow Wow and have more individuals attend.
At Britannia Community Center a Pow Wow was held over the Father’s Day weekend to honor the grandfathers, fathers, and sons. For this Pow Wow Curzon, 55C, Minoru, and Worthington attended. The drumming and dancing were captivating.
We learned about the Seven Teachings and how animals have key messages or words associated with them to teach us about humanities. For example, the Eagle brings the teaching of LOVE, the Wolf HUMILITY, and the Turtle brings the teachings of TRUTH. We participated in beading classes making beaded friendship bracelets.
On June 21st, National Indigenous Peoples Day we participated in a celebration at Ambleside Park listening and dancing to an Indigenous Rock Band, enjoying a salmon dinner with traditional bannock, and watching the long boats paddle by us on the ocean.
On the same day, East 47th joined in a Four Directions Yoga Flow virtual event held at BC Place Stadium in collaboration with the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
The four directions yoga flow was led, by Shayla Stonechild from the Muscowpetung First Nation. The four directions represent the sun, earth, air, and water. Before the yoga, the Squamish performers sang a song about four animals and encouraged everyone to dance their animal role that was assigned be it eagle, wolf, orca, or salmon. Quelemia Sparrow shared the story of how the cedar trees first came to be and the importance of them before using the boughs of cedar branches to cleanse the space.
Finally, the clients at Worthington with the guidance of our Canada summer student Maizie made traditional Bannock and enjoyed it with honey.
