Organized by Batchewana First Nation, the indigenous community and non-indigenous visitors enjoyed drums, dancing, singing, food from indigenous vendors, and indigenous arts and crafts. “Today is culturally important,” said Joel Syrette, a member of the Batchewana First Nation, a well-known powwow emcee and head of the Algoma District Indigenous Education School Committee. “We are heading for what we know as The Strawberry Moon, and around this time of year, traditionally for Native Americans throughout the world, the work of preparing for the coming of winter will take place. “As part of our summer activities, we would start picking our plants, our food, planting our gardens and starting the harvest and preparing for next season.” “One of the things I heard our elders say is that today was always a holiday as the biggest day of the year because tomorrow the work starts. This is an old Ojibway quote, a philosophy. “We were always traditionally early for that because we had to be,” Syrette said. “Usually this time of year is a celebration because we thank for everything we have in the natural world to sustain life.” Indigenous communities across Canada celebrated National Indigenous Day on Tuesday. Family and friends began gathering at the Parks Canada building at 11 a.m., followed by a powwow starting at 12 p.m. A party was scheduled for 3 p.m., the day closing with fireworks in the evening. Syrette said home school experiences and finding children’s graves on these old school sites “is always a sensitive issue. We do not call them discoveries, we call them discoveries or revelations because our elders tell us that they always knew that there were children who did not return home; but the best way to recognize these children is to celebrate the ways of our cultural life because they could not. ” . “Part of the reason we sing, why we dance, why we celebrate powwow is because we dance for those who could not. It’s a way of dancing for those generations who could not and also to pass on the culture to future generations to come. “ “It’s awesome,” Syrette said of the opportunity to celebrate culture on the first day of summer.
