One of the many dancers taking part in Sunday's celebration at Mosquito, Grizzly Bear's Head, Lean Man First Nation shimmers under the evening stars. (Alexis Christensen/Facebook)

By Angela Brown

Drive-in celebration

Mosquito First Nation has drive-in celebration during Indigenous Peoples Day

Jun 22, 2020 | 4:31 PM

It was a night of dancing and joyful singing at Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, and Lean Man First Nation as the community held a drive-in celebration during National Indigenous Peoples Day on Sunday.

The community was mindful to follow the province’s COVID-19 precautions. Many people watched the show from their vehicles, while some sat in lawn chairs in front of their vehicles while maintaining a social distance between households for the 90-minute show. Those who attended the event had their names registered at the security checkpoint when they entered the grounds, also as a COVID-19 precaution.

Chief Tanya Aguilar-Antiman said the event featured all the dancers and drum groups from the First Nation followed by a fireworks display at the end.

“We had a good time. We had our local dancers and singers come together and celebrate,” she said. “We totally encouraged social distancing.”

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People were able to hear the show from inside their vehicles through an FM transmitter.

“It was really neat,” Aguilar-Antiman said. “It was about our community coming together. Really the whole event was to celebrate our singers and our dancers.”

“It is something as chief and council we have committed to celebrating our people,” she added.

Book launch recognized

In addition to Indigenous Peoples Day, the event also recognized Father’s Day, the community’s 2020 young graduates, as well as the launch of a new book that has a connection to the First Nation.

The book has just been released in Italy so the local First Nation community wanted to acknowledge and celebrate the author.

Written in Italian, the book, I pellerossa che liberarono l’Italia, by author Matteo Incerti, is about the First Nations people from Canada who helped liberate Italy during the Second World War, including the late Henry Beaudry Sr., a celebrated artist who lived on the Mosquito First Nation.

“It was in the making for quite some time,” Aguilar-Antiman said. “The book launch happened in Italy on June 9. We were able to acknowledge the author and celebrate yesterday [Sunday].”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW