HARRISTON – Residents arrived decked out in orange for an event celebrating Indigenous culture at the Harriston-Minto Community Complex Wednesday night.
Featuring stories, music and art from Chippewa knowledge carrier Christin Dennis, approximately 50 people attended a celebration of Indigenous culture hosted by the Minto Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee (D.E.I.)
Telling stories in between educating the crowd, Dennis spoke about events like residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and the Millennium Scoop before playing an Indigenous wooden flute and a drum while singing.
After Dennis' presentation, audience members got to ask questions while trying sweetgrass ice cream, which has a floral vanilla taste and was provided by Naagan by Zach Keeshig, pioneer/educator of Progressive Indigenous cuisine.
"I believe truth and reconciliation, it's not so much about me it's about you to understand and to learn some of the historical darkness of what Canada has kept hidden for so many years," said Dennis, a Sixties Scoop survivor.
Dennis also brought several sacred items including a ceremony pipe through which he told the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who approached two hunters with a special pipe while hunting buffalo and taught them the seven teachings to bring unity. This story inspired the colours of the medicine wheel.
"The beauty about stories, it's not so much whether they're true or not but how it makes you feel," said Dennis. "And about the teachings behind those stories and how we feel about it as ourselves and how we can use those to help others."
Metis woman Diane Owen came to the event with some friends and said she really identified with some of Dennis' stories.
"We are all picking up pieces of our culture and he said that and that's something I've said to people many times," said Owen. "And it's different you know some of the stories he told are different from what I've learned. Neither one is right. Neither one is wrong. They're just different and I love the fact that we can accept the difference."
Another attendee, Sylvia Chestnut said she attended the event to learn, understand and show her respect for Indigenous people.
"I want the ability to hear what they have to say their stories, to take in that knowledge and try to help other people understand, stop unconscious bias and look at (Indigenous people) like people and not as some sort of a stereotype that, as (Dennis) said, ends up being in a childcare system instead of growing up with their family...and I want to keep that from happening," said Chestnut.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program
