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Prince George celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day

Drum circle at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park began with an Every Child Matters march

National Indigenous Peoples Day in Prince George began with a sea of orange shirts gathering at the Exploration Place parking lot to march around Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.

The Every Child Matters march took place to honour and raise awareness for Indigenous children found in unmarked graves at the sites of residential schools across the country, beginning with the discovery of 215 children buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May.

“This event started in the wake of the 215 students founds in Kamloops,” said Natalie Lawrence, who organized the march.

“My friends and I really wanted to do something to raise awareness and to show support to the survivors and we thought a march would be a great way to bring people together. We want to keep the conversation going and make sure it is not forgotten about.”

The march, which saw over a hundred participants, ended at the Kiwanis Bowl at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park to begin an afternoon of drumming, singing, dancing, and hearing from Elders.

“It means a lot that we have everyone together and to gather and celebrate,” said Wesley Mitchell, of the UHNBC Monday night drum group, who organized the day’s events.

“Today is about culture tradition and loving ourselves. When we can learn to love ourselves we can love others.”

Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan began with a few words about the importance of learning the history of the Lheidli T’enneh and Indigenous Peoples.

“Unfortunately, just last week I had a member come here and tell me that he comes to clean our active gravesite and someone came and asked him ‘Why would they put a graveyard in our park?’ We need to educate people on our struggles and everything about Lheidli T’enneh and all nations,” said Chief Logan.

Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park is the traditional territory, burial ground, and original village site of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation. 

“We need to remember our ancestors. If it wasn’t for them and their resilience we wouldn’t be here," added Chief Logan. 

Lheidli T’enneh Elder Darlene McIntosh then offered an opening prayer and spoke about the importance of everyone celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day.

“We always talk about Orange Shirt Day and we know there are some settlers that are our allies. They truly are supportive of us. I said when you become allies you need to physically show us that you are an ally. You wear orange, you were an orange ribbon, and you come out to ceremonies and out to what we are doing and not just say ‘oh well that is nice’ and stay away and think that you are not invited,” said McIntosh.

“Every culture is invited. We are an inclusive people. We are not exclusive and we always welcome as many to support what is going on today.”

Wet’suwet’en drummers who came from Witset B.C. began the performances with a mourning song and a donation of roses were provided for the children in attendance.

The celebration continued with Elders Edie Frederick speaking to the crowd at 12 p.m. followed by Elder Violet Bzoki an hour later and included performances by the Khastan Drummers and UHNBC Monday Night drum group.