Singing, dancing, drumming and tears of joy highlighted a packed Indigenous People’s Day ceremony at Millennium Park Wednesday.
The summer solstice event attracted hundreds of people, including several school groups. It was the third edition of the annual Bancroft event. The fact that Indigenous culture is now celebrated so openly brought tears to organizer Diane Martin, of the Algonquin Inodewiziwin Centre.
“To see these children here today taking part in my culture means so much to me,” she said, as applause broke out.
Performers in a drum circle created music for students to dance to. Several dances, including a butterfly dance, were dedicated to members of the local Algonquin community who’ve recently died.
The event also included storytelling. One storyteller, Judii Merle, an Algonquin woman, also spoke about how nice it is to see Indigenous culture celebrated publicly.
“When I watch the dancing and I listen to the drumming, [I think] for so many years these things had to go underground,” she says. “They continued, but nobody heard about it. We couldn’t talk about it. We couldn’t share it with people, because we would get in trouble for it.”
“To be able to come to the middle of a town like this and put on a demonstration of who we are and how we live, that’s important.”
For more photos from the event, see the 97.7 Moose FM Facebook page.