While most of my fellow classmates went out to Victoria to do touristy things, I drove all the way out to Abbotsford to attend a reconciliation event between the Cree Nation and the church. Canada has a long history of mistreating indigenous people and it is still a contentious issue today. This public event was one of many in an attempt to heal the wounds between the occupiers and a occupied.
At the start of the event, the crowd was taught and invited to sing along to a Cree welcome song. Translated to English, the lyrics went something like this:
“Welcome, come in, I’m glad to see you here…”
Then, four elders of the tribe briefly raised attention to the fact that there are still abused and missing indigenous women out there with no formal closure to their cases – just one of the many atrocities committed against the first nations by the establishment. The Cree elders compared their relationship with the church an the government to a broken eagle’s feather. Although the relationship is broken, if the feather is stroked consistently in one direction, it can be healed. The Cree band also prays for the reconciliation of the oppressed and their oppressors.
Children of the tribe came out to dance in the park. The boys performed a dance with the spirit of the horse signifying strength and speed and the girls performed a dance of butterflies to represent an elegant transformation and growth. All this song and dance has got me thinking about revitalisation of minority cultures, it’s not just an issue with linguistic preservation but also the songs, dances, and food of that culture. Cultures don’t occur in parts, every component is vital to making sense of the entire system.
Read more about first nations by visiting my article on the Musqueam Nation, I learned a lot about the land and its relationship to living healthy lives.
