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Elder Grace Aisaican poses at the Marguerite Riel Centre Thursday. (Brendan Mayer/northeastNOW Staff)
skirt making

James Smith Elder helps Indigenous people honour their heritage by making ribbon skirts

Jun 17, 2021 | 8:55 PM

Leading up to National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 northeastNOW is featuring Indigenous professionals, storytellers, entertainers, artists and others. Stay tuned for more throughout the week.

Elder and residential school survivor Grace Aisaican of James Smith Cree Nation has been helping Indigenous people honour their heritage by making ribbon skirts.

Aisaican has been teaching ribbon skirt making classes every second week since this past fall at the Marguerite Riel Centre in Melfort. The classes have been held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which is enough time to finish a skirt.

“Ribbon skirts mean a lot to our people,” Aisaican said. “It’s a part of who we are. The ribbon skirts that we make are a traditional piece of clothing for many First Nations women and girls. It empowers them to be proud and not afraid. It represents prayer. You wear them at ceremonies, powwows and round dances. Some people are wearing them every day now.”

Elder Grace Aisaican teaches a ribbon skirt making class at the Marguerite Riel Centre Thursday. (Brendan Mayer/northeastNOW Staff)

Aisaican started making the skirts around five years ago.

“The skirt is sacred, spiritual and political,” Aisaican added. “It holds centuries worth of history between its seams.”

The final class of spring was Thursday, but the Marguerite Riel Centre plans to bring back the project in September.

Elder Grace Aisaican talks about the importance of ribbon skirts. (Brendan Mayer/northeastNOW Staff)

“Wearing ribbon skirts is about surviving genocide,” Aisaican said. “We’re still here. Look at us. The skirt ties us to ceremonies and ties us to political issues for Indigenous peoples, like missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the 215 children.”

Aisaican attended Gordon’s Indian Residential School in Punnichy and All Saints Indian Residential School in Prince Albert.

“There was a lot of abuse,” Aisaican said. “They didn’t let us speak our languages. It was hard, but we had faith. I made a lot of lifelong friends. I have found some of them on Facebook.”

Aisaican is now retired but spent time working as a Resolution Health Support Worker at the Marguerite Riel Centre from 2007-2010.

“I helped people with healing from stuff that happened to them,” Aisaican said. “I heard a lot of stories. A lot of people block experiences out. A lot of generational trauma.”

Brendan.Mayer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @BrendanMayer

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