THUNDER BAY - It is a day to celebrate and share a culture and heritage that not only continues to flourish to this day, but woven into the historical fabric of Canada.
On Wednesday, thousands of people gathered at Marina Park for National Aboriginal Day to celebrate the history, culture, and heritage of Indigenous people.
“It’s an important day for us as First Nation people as we learn and share our history with the non-Indigenous,” said Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins. “Today is about the recognition and the commitment that First Nation people made to this country. As Canada looks to celebrate its 150th birthday, I remind people that we made a strong commitment to helping build Canada to what it is today.”
The day included a grand entry, drum circles, and dances as people of all ages gathered to share in a heritage that has existed for thousands of years and continues to be passed down generation to generation.
Dancer Alanis Esquega was performing as part of the grand entry. Her red regalia was made by her grandmother and included jingles from her aunt’s dress.
“I just think it really brings out your true colours as a person,” she said. “For my regalia, I picked red because people tell me I look good red and my Granny told me she has dreams of me in red, so that’s why I decided to go with red.”
For Esquega, participating in National Aboriginal Day is important because it helps bring awareness to her culture, which she says is beautiful.
“It makes me really happy to see all these people here and wanting to take part in Aboriginal Day,” she said. “And it makes me happy to see all these different cultures here.”
Several schools from the Thunder Bay Catholic School Board also participated, with many young students saying the day is an important way of preserving Indigenous people’s rich heritage.
“It’s to show that you respect and want to keep the traditions going of the Aboriginal culture,” said 13-year-old Miranda Schulz, a student at E.Q. Jennings School. “It’s dying down and not many people know the true meaning of being Aboriginal.”
“You get to show you are part of the Aboriginal culture and you get to dance and listen to music,” added classmate Erica Lachinette.
“I’m always excited to see all the people have come, the most important part I see is the young people who come from the schools to participate here today in the practice and be part of our culture and our traditions,” Collins added.
It was also announced on Wednesday that the federal government intends to change the name of the day to National Indigenous Peoples Day.
David Zimmer, Ontario minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, was also celebrating the day in Thunder Bay, and said words carry a lot of meaning and consequences.
“We’ve changed the name to Indigenous relations and reconciliation,” Zimmer said of his ministry. “We specifically chose Indigenous relations because we want to put a huge emphasis on relationship building. And on the word reconciliation because we do need reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and others.”
Zimmer said he was pleased to be in Thunder Bay for National Aboriginal Day because Northern Ontario has one of the largest First Nations population in the province.
He added that he is hopeful that days like today will help strengthen the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the region and across the country.
“Awareness of the issues is where you start with any issue that has to be managed,” he said. “In this case, the issue is the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous people. This is all a part of awareness; awareness of issues tends to lead to adjustments and corrections that need to be made in the relationships.”
Collins agreed that building a stronger city and a stronger nation must first start with building stronger relationships.
“We have to work and understand each other and understand each other’s culture and language and traditions and work together to resolve our animosities or issues we have,” he said. “The only way we can do that is with these types of celebrations.”
