Indigenous culture in the spotlight during free event this weekend

Janice Henry is the president of the Northern Prairie Indigenous Peoples Collective and said the event aims to promote and revitalize Indigenous cultural education.

“Many of our traditional cultures and customs are lost as we become more and more urbanized, I guess, in the communities,” she explained. “Getting away from the traditional way of life and from culture, our own culture, [it] leaves a huge gap for children in terms of their self-esteem and knowing who they really are. Our goal here is to help families reconnect, connect with other members of the community, increase kinship, and increase community capacity building through positive teachings.”

“That’s our priority, teaching Indigenous skills to our people and about our culture and customs, but also embracing ourselves and our culture, along with educating members of the general public.”

Henry added that many of the board of directors for the collective are professionals in their own areas around Prince Albert, ranging from teachers to social workers to Métis activists.

She continued that one of her favourite parts of the event is the camaraderie, as it welcomes all walks of life, saying the organization strives greatly to help the growth and development of the Indigenous community within the city.

“Part of that is we also are working towards strengthening our own people’s skills, and not only skills, but how they feel about themselves, their self-esteem. Beyond that, supporting a more and more contributory role of our people, working with other members of the community and encouraging kinship.”

“The thing is, if we don’t have anything positive for our children, how are we going to change the dynamics of our community? And our community right now, like we’re screaming for help,” she added, attributing the rise of violence.

As mentioned, everything at the event is free for anyone who decides to stop by, which includes all food and drink – even the full banquet.

Henry said that was made possible by donations from the community and around the province; SaskCulture and the Northern Lights Community Development Corporation are helping out with the food and Prince Albert Beverages gifted all pop, juice, and water for the event. Additionally, door prizes are being handed out that also come from community contributions, with one of them being a one-night stay at the Dakota Dunes Resort.

She said those are just a couple of the many hands involved in making this event a reality.

“You can imagine with all these different areas, you look at the facilitators and all the supplies and all the materials required and setting it up and space rental and all these other things – we’re very, very blessed and fortunate to be able to do this. There’s so many donations that we’ve been able to get.”

The fourth annual Summer Solstice gets underway at 10 a.m. and workshops will wrap up at 5 p.m.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Indigenous culture in the spotlight during free event this weekend

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