Returning to the Powwow Trail

What a pleasure to return to the powwow circuit, thanks to the kindness of an Anishinabekwe sister! 

The weather was kind this Sunday, May 19, 2013, and I discovered I was sitting beside the MC for the day, Bob Goulais, http://www.anishinaabe.ca/bgc/, whom I remembered as a journalist with the Anishinabek News, so it was good to renew his acquaintance.    As we arrived, Bob was offering a tribute to Elijah Harper  http://tinyurl.com/nmekdme whose memory will remain forever within the true history of this part of Turtle Island we call Canada.

Powwows are marvellous opportunities to meet old friends and make new ones, and to meet in person people I have only spoken to on the phone or through e-mail, and so I was very happy to meet Becky Big Canoe, from Beausoleil (Christian Island) First Nation http://chimnissing.ca/

Becky was promoting Tears4Justice, founded by Gladys Radek, “a peaceful raising awareness campaign … in honour of all our lost loved ones.  … we want Justice, Closure, Equality and Accountability for each and every one of them.  We want proper public and safety measures to be completely implemented through all levels of governance to start protecting all women and children in the hope of eliminating all forms of Violence against women and children across Turtle Island.”   And this is an effort which I wholeheartedly endorse.   https://www.facebook.com/Tears4Justice

At another table was the “Hiawatha Frist Nation Market Housing Program”.  After the recent  number of negative stories from northern Ontario First Nations communities, it was good to see the positive approach to “A Housing Program that provides competitive and affordable loans that work…., developed in conjunction with the First Nations Market Housing Fund”.   I accepted the brochure from the charming and enthusiastic young woman at the table, though the program was obviously for Hiawatha Band members.   More about this in another blog.

I can still remember the first time I attended a Powwow.  It was in the mid-sixties at Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island.  I can remember feeling overwhelmed with the colour, sound and movement of the dancers, drummers and participants as they moved around the circle.  It was only a year or two after I had first met First Peoples, having heard only the slightest mention of “Indians” in my elementary school years.  The contrast between the people I knew in the First Nations at that time with the spectacle unfolding at the Powwow was not lost to me, and over the years I have watched the growth of what I see as the resurgence of pride and dignity in the First Peoples as they reclaim their heritage, almost obliterated by colonisation and the residential schools experience.

 I can’t know what is in the hearts and minds of today’s Powwow participants, but I believe it helps the First Peoples, in some way that I don’t have to understand, become once again, at least for that moment, the people I believe the Creator intends them to be.  And so I rejoice in the beat of the drum, “the heartbeat of Mother Earth”, and pray that my Anishinabek brothers and sisters will grow ever stronger in that knowledge.