I hope you all had a wonderful National Indigenous Peoples Day yesterday!

See below for a message from our Elders, Elder Latash Nahanee and Elder Roberta Price, on this day.

Not quite sure what Indigenous means? Watch below…

And did you know??

• Since 1996, National Indigenous Peoples Day has been held on June 21, the
summer solstice and the longest day of the year.
• According to Statistics Canada, there are over 60 Indigenous languages in
Canada.
• In the 2016 census by Statistics Canada, over 1.6 million people in Canada
identified as Indigenous, making up 4.9 per cent of the national population.

• British Columbia alone is home to 60% of Indigenous languages in Canada. In our
province there are 34 distinct languages involving 61 dialects.
• Not all Indigenous peoples do Pow Wows, potlatches, smudges or sweats.
• There are 634 recognized bands in Canada and 3,100 Reserves. The band refers
to the people and the reserve refers to the land.

I have so much I want to share with you, but I also know that you can do some research on your own! 🙂 So, I will leave you with one last link…

Watch below for a powerful documentary about 12 year-old twins who will cut their hair for the very first time in a Cree coming-of-age ceremony.

Oshkikishikaw: A New Day

Enjoy the day and keep researching and reading…feel free to share in the comments!

Mrs. Hossack 🙂