"We're here to celebrate together, to come together, to connect (and) to build relationships." That from Jaime Friesen-Pankratz in her opening remarks to the crowd that gathered at the Rhineland Pioneer Centre in Altona on Saturday morning for a Pow Wow demonstration.
Hosted by the Steps Toward Reconciliation group, the event saw performances by the Jo Creek Drummers and Dancers from the Roseau River First Nation and included explanations and teachings about the various dances and dress.
According to Friesen-Pankratz, the morning was also an opportunity to unlearn what we've been taught in our nation's history.
"The late Senator Murray Sinclair said, 'it's education that got us into the mess, and it's education that's going to get us out'," she quoted, adding "at the same time that First Nations children were being told that that their culture was not their way, it was not valuable, non-Indigenous children were being told the same thing in their schools. So, we have a lot of unlearning to do and it's not going to be quick. There's no easy answers to this, but these are steps."
For Cheryl Nelson, who is from Roseau River and a member of Steps Toward Reconciliation, it was great to see the two communities come together to share and learn from each other.
"That's a step in the right direction and it's definitely positive," she said. "Not only for our people but for surrounding towns as well, because we all interact on some form or plane and we're neighbours."
The day also held a place close to Nelson's heart and her late father, Oliver Nelson.
"He was into Treaties. He was a Chief at one time. He did a lot for his community and, seeing the reconciliation actually happening in little, tiny things like this, which is a start, he would have loved to see it. So, I'm very honoured to be a part of that."
For Nelson, moving towards reconciliation is all about baby steps, looking forward and thinking in a positive way.
She was also thrilled to see the packed house on Saturday morning, including the little ones running around and the youth being a part of the festivities. In fact, the grand entrance was led by none other than 14-year-old Caleb Codi Atkinson who was honoured with the RBC Promise Keeper Award just last month.
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"We need to motivate the young people. Not only from our culture, but everyone. We want to see those young ones succeed and thrive," adding they are the ones that will continue the reconciliation work into the future.
The morning finished off with a soup and fry bread lunch, prepared by Nelson and her fellow group members.
As we all know, food has the remarkable power of bringing people together from across many different cultures.
In Indigenous culture, noted Nelson, the cook's state of mind when preparing the food is important.
"You have to have good thoughts when you're cooking it because, whatever goes into your food, goes into somebody else's body," she explained. "So, having those good thoughts and all that love in your heart when you're cooking, no matter how much work it is or how hot it is in the kitchen, it's for good."
