Approximately 1,500 to 2,000 people celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day in Royal City Park yesterday.
The official day of June 21 marks and celebrates the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Indigenous Peoples of Canada.
The celebration included traditional Indigenous dances and music and the inauguration of the Sacred Fire space the City of Guelph officially installed early this month.
The fire space included four directions marked with a different colour each with the colour yellow representing the east, rising of the sun and childhood, the colour red representing the south, maturity and adulthood, the colour black representing the west and aging, and the colour white representing the north and the elderly.
“At the beginning, we put down tobacco as prayer so that no one will be injured by the fire and that the fire come to us. Then to cleanse the area, we smudge it with sage and later, we will use some cedar as well,” said firekeeper Bruce Weaver.
Weaver said the location of the Sacred Fire is of great significance because of the two cedar trees and maple trees that hold great significance to the Métis people.
No pictures were allowed near the Sacred Fire Space because of its sacred value.
Majority of the visitors gathered around the different performances and speeches that took place on the other side of the Eramosa River across the Sacred Fire Space. Vendors carried items representing Indigenous cultures such as dream catchers and Indigenous art.
The celebration kicked off with speeches and performances that included Inuit drumming, a community drum circle, Métis fiddling and jigging, big drum and dancing and the Fancy Dance by men and the Fancy Shawl Dance by women.
Each dancer came in a distinct and different attire representing their peoples and was greeted by roaring cheers from the audience.
“I have been so inspired as I see the celebrations across Canada today from coast to coast to coast,” MP Mike Schreiner said to the audience.
“But I think today is not only to celebrate, but it is also a day to commit ourselves to action. Action to act on the recommendations on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A day to act on the recommendations for the missing murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry.”
MP Lloyd Longfield took the stage to acknowledge the complicated relationship Canada has had with the Indigenous peoples and proudly announced the assent of Bill-C91, an act respecting Indigenous languages.
“You know when a colleague of mine stood up in the House of Commons earlier this year and spoke Cree, he got the translators scrambling a little bit and he forced the discussion for us to provide Indigenous language services in parliament, in our committees and in the House of Commons as well,” said Lloyd Longfield.
“And that's one more step towards reconciliation- allowing languages to return and to thrive and to prosper.”
Being #IndigenousReads month, Longfield encouraged people to look for Indigenous authors and read a line from the book, A Mind Spread Out On the Ground by local author Alicia Elliott from the Six Nations of the Grand Reserve that read “I never know when I'm allowed to feel my pain and when I must put it away for the sake of company.”
“The pain of the Indigenous Peoples is being buried and it is so good to have sound celebrations where we can have healing together, we can celebrate through drums, through stories, and through celebrating the Indigenous people that are among us,” said Longfield.
Member of the Inuit community and performer at the event, Tauni Sheldon said it is amazing to see that Indigenous Peoples celebrations are taking place nationwide and that the Inuit community has been growing tremendously in Guelph.
“I do believe it is our time to stand up to tell our stories to be heard in a good way and in an honest and truthful way, and in an accurate way,” said Sheldon.
Originally from Nunavut and really far from home, Sheldon said she's amazed to see the Inuit community grow in Guelph for the last three to four years she's been in the city.
“We're proud to have our say in the world now after a series of really bad events which I won't go through. Our Inuits have finally stood up in all four regions and said ‘no we need our own self-governance,’ so we are in a time of change,” said Sheldon.
“I always think of my mother on this day, National Indigenous Peoples Day and wonder what she's doing because I am one of the taken babies. I was taken from her and I'm a product of child welfare and that's how I came to be here.”
