Northern College aims to inspire Indigenous youth

Northern College held its 20th annual traditional pow wow at its Timmins campus on Sunday.

The goal of the event is to inspire Indigenous youth while educating the community and providing a place for local First Nations people to celebrate their culture.

Organizers say this is a time to honour those who fought to preserve Indigenous cultures and practices and to invite others to experience the tradition.

Indigenous elders talked to guests at the pow wow about how First Nations people were once outlawed from celebrating this cultural tradition and how it's now more important than ever to keep it alive for the younger generation.

"We have fun in the pow wow, for young people to learn our culture, you know," Geoge Rose, an Attawapiskat Elder said.

Revelations about the lengths Canada once went to destroy Indigenous culture makes the 20th annual pow wow at Northern College all the more significant to the community.

Organizers say bringing people together to sing and dance in their traditional regalia–and inviting non-Indigenous people to watch and engage–is the key to developing a shared appreciation of the way of life colonizers tried to take away.

"Trying to bring the cultures together, in this time of reconciliation. part of that is for us to share our culture, so that people become more aware of who we are ... because that's how we're going to reconcile, is through sharing the culture and letting everyone know what we're about and learning what other people are about, at the same time," Trudy Wilson of Northern College told CTV News.

This may be many Indigenous people's first time experiencing a pow wow and some who came out to dance, dress up or just enjoy the event say it brings a sense of empowerment and relief.

"I don't really get to connect with my culture, very often. So, things like this, especially when it's right in the city, it's really accessible and it… it might inspire, spark something within a lot of people,” one of the attendees said.

Many in the crowd told stories of how their grandparents lived and wanting to be part of that culture again after being silenced for so long.

Smiles from the crowd, feeling the drum beat and singing vibrating through the room as families danced to their traditional songs is something organizers say they hope to bring to the community for years to come.