A crowd came out to sing, dance and celebrate Indigenous culture in Bradford this week.
The town recognized National Indigenous Peoples Day with a flag raising ceremony, speeches, open-air market, songs, dancing and drumming at the BWG Leisure Centre and Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library lawn on Wednesday afternoon.
Mayor James Leduc kicked off the event with a short introductory speech outside the leisure centre.
“Today is all about celebrating the cultures and traditions of Indigenous peoples and learning about their unique experiences ... Together we can pave the way towards reconciliation and a brighter collaborative and shared future,” he said, before introducing Mi’kmaw elder White Eagle.
White Eagle performed the opening ceremony and smudge with the help of past Coun. Ron Orr and participation from the crowd.
“I come from the shores of Atlantic Canada, so as a young child I was raised on the ocean and a lot of the traditional teachings were along the coast. Here we are today to celebrate, and that’s what it’s all about: celebration and being at one with each other, and knowing that it doesn’t matter if we’re black, white, red, yellow — who cares? All that matters is that we’re children of Creator,” White Eagle said.
He spoke about the importance of coming together, celebrating ancient wisdom, acknowledging nature and remembering to live in the moment.
“We’re all here for the same reason; we’re here to celebrate the circle of life,” he said.
White Eagle led the crowd in a prayer of thanks and asked for healing.
“I think we live in a world that is so disconnected ... but we look at it as we’re here today to participate and to grow,” he said.
During the smudging ceremony White Eagle spoke about the importance of letting go of negativity, forgiving people and even quoted the Beatles ‘Let it be’, before performing a drum ceremony.
“We use the drum because the drum is the voice of the people and of the children ... We were calling the children back to the circle of life,” he said.
Leduc then read the town’s proclamation that June 2023 is National Indigenous History Month and June 21, 2023, is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Bradford.
“The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury acknowledges the rich and unique cultures, traditions, and experiences of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and ... the Town of BWG recognizes the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples as the original inhabitants of the land where we stand,” he read before the Canadian Indigenous flag was raised.
“It’s very important to celebrate this type of thing ... to bring people together and see some of other peoples’ cultures. Europeans came to this country and said that these were all uneducated people, but the Indigenous knew more of what living and everything was than we ever realized,” Orr said.
Anastasia Morrison of Wasauksing First Nation was visiting home from university in Louisiana and said the symbolism of seeing the Indigenous flag flying beside the Canadian flag and the Ontario flag was important to her.
“The acknowledgement meant a lot to see people be more aware of what’s around them and who they share the community with. It’s nice to see people come and celebrate and learn. It’s all learning,” she said.
Morrison also acted as the guest MC for the evening’s festivities which ran from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and included:
- the open-air market
- songs by Aiden Goreveatt
- performance by Ashunyung Drum / Dance
- speech and story reading by Asha Frost.
