Hundreds gathering at the Battleford's Indian Metis Friendship Centre. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Sunny celebration

Friendship Centre continues Indigenous People’s Day celebrations

Jun 23, 2022 | 4:10 PM

The celebration of National Indigenous People’s Day in the Battlefords continued into Wednesday.

Thanks to the weather holding out, the Battleford’s Indian Metis Friendship Centre put on their annual celebration of the day and month, with plenty of food and festivities for families. This was in order to move away from the main celebration at the WDM on Tuesday and have some more space for the kids to experience both events.

Cheryl Gervais and her family enjoyed the evening at the Centre, something they do each year. Some of the festivities included a bouncy castle, face painting and pony rides.

“It’s awesome, it’s a lot of fun for the kids,” Gervais said.

In addition to the kid-friendly activities, prayers, music and live dancing took place prior to supper, with words from elders, Friendship Centre staff and North Battleford Mayor David Gillan. Gervais said it’s meaningful for the community to recognize their culture and heritage every year.

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“Celebrating Indigenous Day and having everyone enjoying themselves and coming together, the dancers,” she said. “All of that stuff is nice.”

(Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW)

Jackie Kennedy, Executive Director for the Friendship Centre, told said they wanted to move the event away from the powwow at the WDM Museum to have some space for families to experience both, adding it’s meaningful to host large groups at the Centre.

“We’re a gathering place for everyone, so it’s important to have events here,” she said.

Kennedy was pleased with the turnout, which exceeded 250 people. It’s one of the first gatherings hosted at the Centre since pandemic restrictions were lifted, which Kennedy said has coincided with a shift in the atmosphere, as well as the number of people they can host in one space.

“We’re happy that people can gather now and the Elders can sit together,” she said. “It’s a good feeling. A lot of them were isolated for a long time.”

She noted it’s also encouraging to see several non-indigenous families in attendance. In the past few years, Kennedy said that the variety of people they interact with has changed, with people more willing to access their services.

“We deal with everyone, people of different colours and experiences,” she said. “People just come in and we meet with them. We have an open-door policy and we don’t see colour.”

Information on the Friendship Centre for events and services is available online.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW