Latest news with #Dane-zaa
Hamilton Spectator
23-05-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
‘Different from a textbook': Doig Day returns in 2025 to educate kids about Indigenous culture and language
DOIG RIVER, B.C. — With a little wind in the air, school buses parked in an area on the grounds of Doig River First Nation (DRFN) for the annual Doig Day. One by one, excited fourth graders filed off the vehicles on May 22nd, donning navy blue t-shirts for what has become a tradition for School District 60 students. Started in the 1970s in a classroom with a handful of students, the event has become a staple on the North Peace region's cultural calendar. Community members, industry partners and the public explored the area, with stations dedicated to hunting and trapping, smoking meat, preparing a moose hide to use for materials such as clothing and drums and even learning the Beaver alphabet. It's become routine for Elaine McEachern , who brought students from Baldonnel Elementary School and said a large takeaway was Indigenous communities traditionally 'waste nothing.' 'It's stunning,' said McEachern. '[We were shown] when you shoot a moose or a bison, what Indigenous folks do with it, because they waste nothing. They make beautiful clothing out of it. They dry the meat. There's everything from the heart to the nose. 'Letting kids see that, when you're really in touch with nature, nothing's wasted [and] everything's appreciated.' Hudson's Hope Elementary-Secondary School teacher Douglas Laidlaw, who came for the second year in a row with his class, said there is a 'difference between learning from a textbook' and experiencing Doig Day. Members of the DRFN community taught Laidlaw's students – and countless others – phrases in the Beaver language of the Dane-zaa people while they prepared smoked moose meat, including 'hello,' 'I'm fine' and 'thank you.' '[Just being here] seeing things, touching things, being able to interact and able to speak the language,' said Laidlaw. 'We're learning a little bit more Dane-zaa here. They came ready to say 'I'm fine' but they get to use the words they pick up.' DRFN community member Karen St. Pierre said it was 'very important' to pass the knowledge to the district's students, showing some steps in preparing an animal hide. 'Doig Day is very important to School District 60 that they come out every year with the grade fours,' said St. Pierre. 'To teach other children about our First Nations culture and teach them how we came about, teach them about our ancient ways and how we survived.' Around the festivities was DRFN Elder Gerry Attachie, who preached events such as Doig Day celebrate not only education, but harmony among the Indigenous and settler communities. 'We were too far apart,' said Attachie. 'Some of the people that were in line, we didn't know they're part Indian. One of them said 'we didn't know we were Métis. My dad never told us.' They just got their status back. 'Why? Because of prejudice and racism. It was so sad.' More details about Doig Day 2025 are available through DRFN's Facebook page .
Hamilton Spectator
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Tse'K'wa Heritage Society names summer 2025 artist in residence
CHARLIE LAKE, B.C. — With the backdrop of the Tse'K'wa cave behind her, Adrienne Greyeyes works with dedication and intent below a canopy, the carcass of a moose stretched as she scrapes hair from its hide. Greyeyes, who works as an Indian day school coordinator with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, has for a portion of the summer gone back to an undying passion: art. She has been announced as Tse'k'wa's artist in residence for the summer of 2025. Greyeyes holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Vancouver's Emily Carr University of Art and Design. According to a press release, Greyeyes will be incorporating 'combined teachings from Dane-zaa and Nehiyaw Elders to develop her hide-making skills' during eight weeks in May and July. The residency is fully funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Greyeyes is of Nehiyaw ancestry from Bigstone Cree Nation in what is now Alberta, but was born and grew up in Fort St. John. 'Moose hide holds nostalgia and safety to a lot of people,' said Greyeyes during a break. '[It] brings so many people back to when they were younger. 'This is such a meditative practice where I find myself re-visiting a lot of those things and it just puts me in that kind of head space.' In traditional Indigenous cultures, preparing animal hides for purposes such as clothing, shelter and art requires a labour-intensive process. This involves hide cleaning; soaking; fleshing; scraping; softening using the animal's brains, known as 'braining'; and smoking to give it a tanned appearance. The finished hides will be utilized in Greyeyes' printmaking, artwork which she says will display 'the reciprocal relationship that we have with the land we grew on through using hides that were grown on the same territory that my body has also been nourished from,' and acknowledge 'our relationship is ever-changing and challenged due to colonial lifestyle impositions.' 'Not only is it sustaining us in being in clothing and being part of our ceremonies,' said Greyeyes. 'But it also teaches. You're really close to this animal the whole time you're working with [it] and you're really close to that spirit.' Greyeyes will hold open-studio hours at Tse'K'wa in Charlie Lake, where the public can view her work and ask questions. Greyeyes will be at the Tse'K'wa cave on May 14th, 15th, and 20th. The second half of her residency will be on July 7th, 9th, 10th, 14th, 16th and 17th, when people can learn more about her. The time for all days is between 11 a.m. and 12 noon, and admission is free. The Tse'K'wa cave is an Indigenous-owned national heritage site , owned by Doig River First Nation, West Moberly First Nations and Prophet River First Nation. Tse'K'wa, translating to 'Rock House,' is a cave with history tracing back some 12,000 years, and was used by Dane-zaa ancestors since the Ice Age. More information about Greyeyes' residency is available on the Tse'K'wa website .
