THUNDER BAY – Fort William First Nations Residents were given the opportunity to learn more about their culture and learn a few traditional land-based skills on Saturday.
The second annual Fort William First Nation Fall Festival invited families to reconnect with the land while learning about indigenous culture through interactive demonstrations, workshops and live performances.
Lauren Waller, employment training coordinator said that it was important to hold festival this year because the community needed more positive reasons to come together.
“We just want to get our community together because lately our community has been more or less only coming together for funerals and we'd rather have them come together as a whole to become healthy again,” she said.
Last year’s festival was the first and saw a great turnout according to Waller who said that most of last year’s attendees were excited to get the chance to learn more this year which led to an incredible turnout in 2023.
“For everyone coming here today and seeing them all as Happy; it makes us feel happy because we're bringing our community together as a whole instead of just at funerals,” she said. “So having them all together here today is a wonderful experience and at the end of it I just want to thank everyone who helped put this together.”
The festival was originally planned to be held on Mountain McKay but, due to cold temperatures, the decision was made for it to be held inside this year.
“Next year, I'm hoping that we do it a little bit earlier and we will be able to do it right on our traditional land. And I mean, this is on our land, but like, right up there in the mountain,” said Waller.
To find out more about community events visit the Fort William First Nation website.
