Skip to Content
Georgian Bluffs Encouraging Residents To Take Part In Reconciliation Events
Skip to Content
Tag: reconciliation
Skip to Content
Calgary events share Indigenous culture, promote healing and reconciliation – Calgary | Globalnews.ca
This week brings a new opportunity for Calgarians to connect with southern Alberta’s rich Indigenous culture.
It’s a chance for people to learn about the past and to make healing connections for the future.
It comes in the form of a series of weekly events at St. Patrick’s Island.
The free events will feature Indigenous knowledge-keepers sharing traditional stories, as well as drumming and singing.
Read more:
Indigenous and local knowledge can help build effective environmental policies: Calgary study
Among those leading the gatherings is Clarence Wolf Leg Jr., a member of the Siksika Nation.
“I’m a Blackfoot powwow singer — I’ve been doing this for about 30 years,” Wolf Leg Jr. said. “I’m just creating some positive energy.”
The events are being organized by Tarra Wright-Many Chief, whose company Many Chief Tours offers Indigenous-themed walking tours of St. Patrick’s Island.
Wright-Many Chief says, the purpose of free events is “to teach people about the history of the Blackfoot people and our connection to this area.”
St. Patrick’s Island is in the Bow River, directly across from the place the Elbow River flows into it.
“[It is] close to the confluence of the two rivers, which is a sacred site for the Blackfoot people — people would come here to do ceremonies,” Wright-Many Chief said. “And so it makes sense for us to come here and start creating space for Indigenous stories and knowledge to be shared — where it was traditionally shared thousands of years ago.”
Everyone is invited to attend the events, which run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on six consecutive Fridays from July 22 to August 26.
“We’ll be providing some good vibes, and that’s what the powwow songs are meant for,” Wolf Leg Jr. said. “They’re meant to heal and to break down barriers, to help complete this reconciliation that we’re all going through.”
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Vancouver Canada Day event celebrates local First Nations ‘in spirit of reconciliation’
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations are leading the Canada Day celebrations at Canada Place this week.
Canada Day celebrations across Vancouver are marking the national holiday with events and activities being planned in conjunction with local First Nations.
Musqueam, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh Nations are driving the events at downtown’s Canada Place on July 1, marking the 36th annual event at the Port of Vancouver site.
Canada Together, which begins at 11 a.m., has been planned collaboratively with the representatives from the host First Nations. Programming, along with the name itself, has been chosen to create a welcoming experience for everyone who calls these lands home.
“After a long hiatus, the Squamish Nation is excited to help plan out this in-person event again for Canada Day,” Sxwíxwtn (Wilson Williams), councillor and spokesperson for Squamish Nation, said.
Williams said attendees will learn about the importance of advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and “learn about different Indigenous languages and cultures and enjoy spectacular performances by Coast Salish drummers and singers.”
Tsatsu Stalqyu (Coastal Wolf Pack) are Spakwus Slolem (Eagle Song Dancers) are featured during the event, which also includes headliner Johnny Reid, The Boom Booms, Omega Mighty, Bitterly Divine, West Vancouver Youth Orchestra, and Carsen Grey.
“Canada Day and what it means to be Canadian has taken on a new meaning in the last year,” Tsleil-Waututh Nation Chief Jen Thomas said. “Working alongside our relatives at Musqueam and Squamish, as well as the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, we look forward to working together on creating an inclusive event that showcases Tsleil-Waututh and Coast Salish history, culture, and values.”
Chosen to honour diversity, this year’s theme: “Weaving together the fabric of a nation” looks to set the intention for the day to gather, celebrate, learn, and share. According to a statement from Canada Together, weaving is a common activity across many cultures and is a metaphor for the way the beauty, strength, and wisdom from the past can combine through multiple perspectives to create something meaningful for today and tomorrow.
“Canada Together renews our July 1 event at Canada Place to reflect who we are in Canada in 2022 and moving forward, and celebrate our diverse cultures and histories,” Tom Corsie, president of Canada Place said. “We look forward to welcoming Lower Mainlanders back—in person again, at last—for our 36th annual July 1 celebration at Canada Place.”
On behalf of Reconciliation Canada, Chief Dr. Robert Joseph will give a special message at the event, while Jack Poole Plaza will host a special kids zone which will include performances from Mom Bop or Will’s Jams.
Interactive displays and exhibits at Harbour Green Park will recognize Canada’s defences forces, while Canada Place Way will be filled with a variety of food trucks.
Canada Together
When: July 1, 2022
Where: Canada Place, 999 Canada Pl, Vancouver.
Cost: Free to attend
Charlie Carey is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
VIDEO: B.C. Convoy participant organizes hockey and barbecue event to promote reconciliation – Cowichan Valley Citizen
A B.C. participant in the Ottawa convoy protest organized a pot luck barbecue and some parking lot hockey games for kids in a Langley recreation centre parking loy on Saturday, Feb. 26.
John Bancroft, an excavator operator who lives in Langley’s Brookswood neighbouerhood, said he would like the event to lead to other, similar in-person meet-ups, to start a process of reconciliation and help heal divisions in the country.
“It’s bringing the community together,” Bancroft told the Langley Advance Times.
“Just getting everyone shaking hands again and talking. Once we get that going, it will all fix itself.”
Ottawa convoy participant John Bancroft organized a potluck barbecue and some parking lot hockey games for kids on Saturday, Feb. 26, at the George Preston rec centre. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
The George Preston get-together was not, he stressed, about the anti-vaccine-mandate protest that he took part in.
“It’s completely separate [from that],” said Bancroft.
“That’s my personal thing.”
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Hundreds of supporters rally in Langley to support Ottawa protest convoy
Bancroft said he left Ottawa before the police moved in and began making widespread arrests.
“I had a gut feeling,” he recalled.
His memories of the Ottawa event were positive.
“My experience was nothing but community coming together,” Bancroft remarked, adding he did not personally witness any of the reported incidents of bad behavior while he was in Ottawa.
READ ALSO: Langley – Aldergrove MP Tako Van Popta backs ‘Freedom Convoy’
Another convoy participant, Al Fortin, a District of Barriere councillor, drove in to bring the “Unity Cup,” an improvised replica of the Stanley Cup created by convoy participants, to the event.
Fortin explained the cup was created from a “garbage can and a mop bucket” after he and fellow convoy participant Ron Rotzetter decided to put an an empty stretch of street to use.
“I said, let’s start some hockey, here,” Fortin recalled.
“For about two and half, three weeks, we went down every day with it and played hockey and got people to sign it,” Fortin related.
The cup was completely covered with names.
Ottawa convoy participant John Bancroft, organizer of a potluck barbecue and some parking lot hockey games for kids on Saturday, Feb. 26, at George Preston rec centre, brought a Canadian flag covered with signatures from the protest. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
“I don’t know how many signatures are on there, but there’s a few,” Fortin said.
“A small fringe minority, let’s go with that.”
Like Bancroft, Fortin left Ottawa before police began making wholesale arrests.
“I wanted to leave with that experience of the unity. That’s what I saw, the whole time I was there, the unity.”
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Crowd of supporters greets anti-vaccine-mandate truck convoy in Aldergrove
The event was held without permission from Langley Township, but Mayor Jack Froese noted that while the municipality generally doesn’t rent out parking lots, they also don’t prevent people from meeting up in an empty lot, as long as there are no violations of laws or regulations, such as liquor laws.
“People use our parking lots for meetings all the time,” Froese said.
– with files from Matthew Claxton
Is there more to the story? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Gassy Jack statue toppling denies Squamish Nation planned reconciliation event
The toppling of a Gastown statue honouring Vancouver’s first saloon keeper was done without the consent of the Squamish Nation, which had already reached an agreement with the City of Vancouver to remove the statue because of troubling details about the man’s life.
John “Gassy Jack” Deighton was 40 years old at the time of his wedding to a 12-year-old Squamish girl named Quahail-ya.
The two had one child together before she found the courage to run away from the relationship after less than three years.
On Monday, during the annual Women’s Memorial March through the Downtown Eastside, a group of people pulled the statue down and attempted to behead it, as hundreds of others roared in approval.
“I’m into it. I’m all for it. I love it,” said a woman named Daisy, who works at a nearby Gastown restaurant.
“He was a really bad, bad person. And to be in this neighbourhood, in particular, to be some kind of symbol to be looked at or admired is archaic,” added Nicole Lefaivre, who attended the march honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Deighton’s marriage to Quahail-ya is a story that has been told by Squamish Nation elders through the generations but was not well-known in the broader community.
In the past few years, calls for the statue’s removal have grown louder. One petition has garnered more than 23,000 signatures.
“I can’t imagine the empowerment that everyone felt in that moment,” said march attendee Ria Kisoun about the statue coming down.
But in acting unilaterally, the group of activists have undermined the reconciliation work already underway.
“Mayor Kennedy reached out to the nation and opened the dialogue,” said elected Squamish Nation councillor Wilson Williams. “Ever since then, we’ve taken leadership on this file and the city was fine with that.”
Wilson said the Squamish Nation needs to be at the forefront of reconciliation initiatives related to its ancestors.
The nation and city had also been in consultation with Quahail’ya’s living descendants who would have been offered the opportunity to participate in an event around the statue’s removal when details had been finalized.
“We want to be mindful and respectful and really walk softly. I always say this in my walk of life, if you don’t know, please ask. Our doors are open as Squamish people,” Wilson said.
“I know we have a lot of activist groups in First Nations circles, but you know, we’re all responsible for reconciliation and it is our duty to reach out and ensure that we are doing the proper thing in the lands where we are.”
Vancouver police have opened a mischief investigation into the toppling of the statue but no arrests have been made.
The Squamish Nation says it plans to continue working with the city and Quahail’ya’s relatives to come up with a plan for a more appropriate monument at the site where the statue stood.
