JJ Louis was feeling overwhelmed with happiness as he took the stage with five generations of his family to share the culture of the Sts’ailes people at the National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in Maple Ridge.
Hundreds of people attended the event throughout the day in Memorial Peace Park on Saturday, June 20, which included drumming, dancing, storytelling, healing tents, Indigenous vendors, and food.
“I feel really rich today,” said Louis as he addressed those gathered in the park.
“I feel really overwhelmed with happiness. I feel really overwhelmed with the excitement today,” he said, before his Sacred Drum family started to drum, sing, and dance.
His family, he noted, loves to share their knowledge with the community.
“To uplift you spirits, to make your day and your mind stronger and better today,” he said.
Dignitaries opened up the day’s events with speeches just after 10 a.m.
City of Pitt Meadows Mayor Nicole MacDonald said National Indigenous Peoples Day is a time to recognize the richness and diversity of Indigenous cultures.
“And to reaffirm our shared responsibility to build a respectful relationship grounded in listening, learning, and ultimately action,” she said.
“It’s about listening to the stories,” said City of Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy.
“Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but that’s a part of the stories. We don’t shy away from them because they are uncomfortable. We embrace them because they are uncomfortable. And that’s why it is so important for us to be here today,” he said.
Artist Rosalie Dipcsu Williams was hosting an interactive community art project.
“It just breaks down the doors,” she said about the community involvement.
“Because all of the community are here and they are all partaking. They really want to make their mark here today,” she said, noting that it is important to bring people together in knowledge and understanding.
Templates for the project were cut out ahead of time for people to choose what image they wanted to spray paint on the canvas, which they then signed their name to.
It took Dipcsu Williams about a month to prepare the two canvases for the project with images of carving tools, the Metis scarf, and the woodpecker.
She chose the woodpecker because they are protectors of their children, she said, and they are also very fast at what they do. And, when they peck, she explained, it is like giving the initiative for carvers to carve.
“It lets people know that we use the grass roots of our hand tools to create all of those wonderful images that you see all over B.C. and Canada,” she said.
The event took place in partnership with PLEA Community Services.
The art piece will represent the story of the day, explained PLEA event coordinator Roger Watts. And, he said, the finished canvases will travel to the offices of the different partners of the event.
Harjit Sall, who was participating in the community art project with her son, Naik, 7, and daughter, Maeva, 5, was very impressed with the event.
“It’s cool. It’s very different,” she said, noting it was great for the community and for awareness.
Justin Hari, part of the University of the Fraser Valley student organization called Enactus, was in the park selling candles.
Enactus is a group that creates businesses that have positive social impact.
The Oak and Earth candle project, managed by Sakshi Charan, was sharing 50 per cent of the profits with the Fraser River Indigenous Society.
They even dedicated one candle to Roseanne Timbrell, a professor at the university and board member of the society.
“I am humbled and very honoured,” she said. “I don’t want to say too much because I am going to start crying,” she added.
Clarence Hall, president of the board of directors of the Fraser River Indigenous Society, who has been attending National Indigenous Peoples Day in Maple Ridge for the past eight years, said the event is important to the community in order to remember the past and the traumas that his people have experienced.
“It helps us heal,” he said.
“Just talking about it and being acknowledged – what our people have gone through, and where we want to go,” he said of the future.
National Indigenous Peoples Day is observed across the country on June 21 to celebrate the cultures, languages, and traditions of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the day.
For more information about the Fraser River Indigenous Society go to: frisociety.ca.