It was a gathering of which the ancestors of Kelly Lavallee and Lindsey Lickers could be proud.
The duo organized an event in recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day at Innisfil Beach Park June 21. It included a sacred fire, creation story-telling, tobacco teachings and offerings, and traditional songs and drumming.
They also offered plates of free food and a refreshing strawberry drink.
And a healing circle, closed off to the general public, was planned for Indigenous women in the evening.
“It’s to really bring us together and show off the beauty of our culture and the resilience of our traditional ways,” said Lavallee, an Innisfil resident and host of the monthly Sitting Turtle sacred fire. “It’s important for people to see all of this. When they hear about Indigenous culture, they hear about residential schools and the trauma. Today is about celebrating the culture, seeing the regalia, wearing our orange shirts, bringing out our medicines and just kind of being who we are without any judgment. It’s a time where we can just be proud of who we are.”
Lickers, who travelled about three hours from Six Nations of the Grand River to attend, worked on a painting throughout much of the day.
“A lot of my art is connected to traditional stories,” she said. It’s another opportunity to show people what visual storytelling looks like.”
She encouraged anyone who walked or rode by to ask questions about Indigenous cultures, ceremonies and practices.
“It’s a long day,” she said. “Especially with these kinds of things in public parks, it makes me think about how it was used by a lot of different people and how we, as Indigenous people, historically have been pushed off these spaces. It really feels like visiting ancestors. If it’s by water, it’s usually a prayer site.”
National Aboriginal Day, now National Indigenous Peoples Day, was first proclaimed by the Canadian government in 1996, though many Indigenous groups and communities have been celebrating their culture and heritage on or around June 21 for generations, due to the significance of the summer solstice as the longest day of the year.
But there are other elements that made this Friday particularly “special," including the Strawberry Moon, Lavallee said.
“Our ancestors fought really hard for us to be here today,” she said. “I stand here today for my ancestors, with them behind me, doing the work that needs to be done. We need to take up space — we’ve been in the bush for so many years, hundreds of years. Now it’s time to come out and show who we are and what we stand for. It's about strengthening our relationship with the land and the people of Innisfil.”
