Quesnel's annual Indigenous Peoples' Day event was hosted at the Helen Dixon Centre Friday, June 21. Students from schools in and around Quesnel and members of the community went to celebrate and learn about Indigenous culture and history.
The booths featured a variety of activities including button making, beading, games and many different displays about Indigenous culture and history. The Lhtako Dene First Nation was serving hamburgers, Safeway was serving hot dogs, there were two large cakes and plenty of bannock for people to enjoy.
One of the booths with a game for kids was the Quesnel Museum and Archives which had furs and tracks for children to identify as well as a game for them to play.
"We have prints, we have furs, we have games," said Ben Weston at the museum booth. "These are all Indigenous related. This is a traditional game. Normally it's made out of birch bark, ours are paper." He said holding up a small paper triangle with a hole in the centre and a ball and string attached. The objective of the game is get the ball into the whole. Students who succeeded got the answer to one of the questions on their activity sheets.
Another one of the displays was by the North Cariboo Metis Association. Lori Donald was at their booth teaching students to say Maarsii, which means "thank you" and comes from mixing French and Cree languages.
"We brought a little bit of our Metis history and culture just to share with with everyone in Quesnel," Donald said. "It's a really nice day to celebrate who we are. With all the nations of the land here in Quesnel."
Donald said many people don't know very much about Metis history and assume Metis people and the day is good to reflect on the positive aspects of the culture and history while acknowledging some of the darker parts of history.
"A lot of people don't know that a lot of our elders actually did go to Metis residential schools in the prairies," she said. "There was a time when (Metis) were called the road allowance people because they often didn't have a place to live in the prairies."
Last September Archie Chantyman from the Lhoosk’uz Dene Nation walked from Kluskus to the site of St. Joseph's Residential School, which he was sent to in his youth. He's planning to repeat his "March with Arch" this year and is hoping to expand it. He wore a hat decorated with feathers and when asked about them he said they're there because they look cool.
"We never had a day to celebrate," Chantyman said. He said Indigenous peoples have celebrated their culture and history in spite of the Canada's attempts to quash it. "To acknowledge ourselves and to celebrate what we have and share with the people. That's why we have Indigenous Day," Chantyman said.
"It's a good day to be Indigenous," Chantyman added.
Tony Goulet, president of the Metis Association and executive director of the Tillicum Society said over 800 students were at the event from schools. He said they don't know the full numbers yet but he was happy with the turnout. Bringing students from schools to the event is key to help normalize and educate children about Indigenous history and culture.
Arlene Horutko is the Southern Carrier language teacher for SD28. She goes to schools to teach the language using flashcards and asking students to match images to words. Horutko sat at the SD28 booth teaching words to students in exchange for answers on their checklists.
"Our language will become extinct if we don't start teaching it to the next generation. Our elders are slowly passing away, especially our knowledge keepers that are very fluent in the language," she said. "If we don't sit there and start bringing it out more and teaching other people, then our language will become one on the extinct list as with many other languages."
Horutko said the day is important to share the cultures and activities of each of Indigenous people and the different booths represent different lessons people can learn about the history and culture.
One of the schools that attended was Bouchie Lake Elementary, Principal Corry Climenhage said the school folds Indigenous culture and history into every lesson it can from social studies to drama and everywhere in between.
"Students have been participating in this day for a lot of years in our town and I think it's important because it's normalized and recognizing the efforts and struggles of Indigenous people and participating in culture is something that we embed in our every day (at the school)," she said. She added that while the day is important to focus on Indigenous people, special days aren't the only time schools think about educating students about Indigenous people.
Lhtako Dene Elder Bryant Paul had a smudging ceremony for students who are moving from preschool into kindergarten.
"Indigenous Day's getting bigger. I see more people here today to learn from us. To help us celebrate this good day. Every day is Indigenous Day for me," Paul said. Paul said the day is important to acknowledge all of the efforts of the nations in the area and he appreciates the work the City of Quesnel has done to work with the Lhtako Nation.