Ribbon garment-making workshop invites Winnipeggers to practice cultural understanding at CMHR

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Peggy

The Canadian Human Rights Museum is inviting guests to make ribbon skirts this weekend as part of an event showing solidarity with Indigenous people on Canada Day.

Two workshops to be held Monday afternoon will teach visitors the significance of Indigenous cultural clothing.

Guests will be able to make ribbon skirt, shirts and pants which they can then take with them home.

Marilyn Dykstra, Indigenous cultural liaison with the museum, says the goal is to promote cultural understanding, a way to move forward toward reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous people.

“We can’t fix everything that’s happened, but what we can do is we can move forward, right?” she said. “We can take those mistakes and we can build on them.”

A woman smiling — Marilyn Dykstra, Indigenous cultural liaison with the museum, said the goal is to promote cultural understanding, a way to move forward toward reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous people. (Radio-Canada)

Indigenous creators were also in the spotlight this weekend during this years’ sākihiwē festival and its block parties, which celebrate up-and-coming artists from Indigenous communities.

The festival is usually held closer to National Indigenous Peoples’ Day on June 21. Director Alan Greyeyes said organizers didn’t forget July 1 is just a day after.

“We made the decision not to celebrate colonial milestones. And so we don’t do events on Canada Day. We don’t participate in Canada 150 or Manitoba 150, Winnipeg 150,” he said, adding that the festival’s goal is to showcase Indigenous excellence.

‘Keep us in mind’

“I think that Canada Day is a touchy subject for everybody,” said Ashley Martel Lepine, master of ceremonies. She added that everyone should celebrate Canada Day how they feel fit, though also encouraged others to “keep us in mind.”

“It was the day of colonization or the Indigenous people. So it’s not something that us Indigenous people really celebrate,” said Barrin May, a musician from Saint Theresa Point First Nation.

Three people on a stage. — Indigenous creators were in the spotlight this weekend during this years’ sākihiwē festival and its block parties, which celebrate up-and-coming artists from Indigenous communities. (Radio-Canada)

May added changing the way Canadians celebrate July 1 to showcase Indigenous culture would go a long way to address that.

Yndira Campos, a singer, said she’s “not the biggest fan” of Canada Day, but she still celebrates in her own way.

“I go out and still go out to powwows and stuff like that,” she said. “But for me personally, I’m not going to be all, you know, ‘Happy Canada Day.'”

Dykstra said events like Monday’s at the Human Rights Museum can help bridge the gap.

“I am Canadian, yes. I am also part of Cumberland House Cree Nation, right?” she said.

“But I’m Canadian and I know that every time I travel outside this country and I know that my feet are not in my home, right? I am part of Turtle Island, and this is where I belong.”

The two-hour workshops are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the museum’s Stuart Clark Garden of Contemplation.