Unreserved47: 46 Celebrating National Indigenous Day
June 21 is National Indigenous Day in Canada. It was first celebrated in 1996the day – which falls on the summer solstice – is designed to recognize and honor the cultures of the first nations, the Inuit and the mestizos.
Unconditionally asked several friends on the show — Indigenous people who celebrate on their own — what National Indigenous Day means to them and how best to spend the day.
Joy after a difficult year
Award-winning writer Eden Robinson’s West Coast culture is “extremely social.” But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was on a balloon with her family. It has been a long time since many in her community came together.
“I’m looking forward to the first time we break bread together again,” Robinson said.
Robinson, who is Heisla and Heilzuk, often spends National Indigenous Day at George Little Park in Terrace, British Columbia, listening to musical performances and enjoying barbecue delicacies.
“There will be amazing food. Part of it will be traditional, another will be accepted, but everything will be fine.”
Award-winning author Eden Robinson is Heisla and Heilzuk. Her novel Son of a Trickster was nominated for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Award (Red Works Photography / Penguin Random House Canada)
The last few years have been difficult, the author said. “Not only with COVID, but I’m thinking especially of the 215 children found at the Indian housing school in Kamloops.”
Finds in May 2021 at the site of a former housing school in British Columbia revealed 215 potential burial sites. Since then, similar discoveries have been made in a number of residential schools across the country.
“When people talk about us or when they talk to us, these are the stories they tell. They tell of our deepest sorrow and trauma. So what I like on Indigenous People’s Day is that people celebrate our cultures, they celebrate our communities, “Robinson said.
“We celebrate the things that bring us joy, and that’s usually our heritage,” she continued. “I know last year was extremely difficult and no one wanted to celebrate, but we have an endless capacity for joy.”
Healing through laughter
Social media influencer Sherkeen McKay’s Sishkeeng First Nation, Anishinaabe, said she was creating her online content – which has gained more than 500,000 followers on the TikTok online video service – to celebrate being indigenous. .
In her eyes, it serves the same main purpose as National Indigenous Day – a celebration.
Anishinaabe, influential on social media, Sherry McKay was invited to be a senior figure in the big event for the APTN Indigenous Day live event in 2022 in Winnipeg. (Submitted by Sherry McKay)
“When I think of National Indigenous Day, I think of a celebration. I think of the laughter. “I’m thinking about the family,” McKay said.
“I think of gatherings and songs that were missing for decades before the celebration of our language, our culture and our ceremonies, and remember our relatives and our ancestors who were not able to celebrate these things.
The TikTok star draws attention to indigenous issues with comedy because, she says, laughing together brings healing.
“I don’t know if it’s the laughter itself or, you know, the laughter we have with our loved ones. These big aunts are laughing and these big uncle’s laughter are very healing.
McKay celebrated National Indigenous Day as a dignitary in the spectacular participation in Saturday’s APTN live event at The Forks in Winnipeg. She says it is one of the greatest honors she has ever received, and proof of her that her content and comedy touch many people.
“I know [my work] reaches a very young age. And that’s so incredibly important to me. “
Opportunity to learn
As the cultural guardian of the Inu nation in Labrador, Jody Ashini works to preserve and promote her culture.
When asked about National Indigenous Day, she thinks of her six-year-old daughter, who has visible darker indigenous skin.
“I was a pale local population, so I almost didn’t fit in on either side. I was either red skin or white skin, so I was [spent] I spent a lot of time trying to fit in, trying to figure out who I was growing up with, “Ashini said.
“But I’m really afraid that my little girl will have to endure this heartache not to fit in just for who you are.
Jodi Ashini’s important work in preserving Inu culture includes repatriating Inu material and contributing to government policy. (Submitted by Jody Ashini)
How colonization has affected and still affects Inu is a story that many people do not know, Ashini said. That is why June 21 is an ideal opportunity for non-Indigenous Canadians to learn about indigenous peoples and their cultures – and to take steps towards equality.
“This is so important to us. This is a day to feel recognized in a country where you feel so little, where we still have to fight for our rights and freedoms,” she said.
“Go talk to someone you know is indigenous,” [and] you can learn a lot, “Ashini added.” Learn oral history, learn a recipe and learn about their great-grandparents. “
And let’s hope that if this learning continues, she says, one day her daughter will fit in wherever she goes.
“I hope we succeed [that] equality when our cultures and people are recognized and we don’t have to feel different. We don’t have to feel injustice. “
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