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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.