The day of the IRS commemoration had finally arrived and it is safe to say that both Karmy and I were uncertain about what our roles were. It turned out that our roles were to help out at the administration tent where both the treaty day payments and the swag bag handouts were happening. Treaty day payments or treaty annuity payments, for those who may not know are annual payments made to Indigenous peoples in fulfillment of treaties. The amount that is given is $5, which has been that way since the beginning of treaty payments. You can learn more about treaty payments here: https://activehistory.ca/2018/12/200-years-of-treaty-annuities/ To assist with the treaty annuity payments were RCMP officers that were present throughout the entire time (just in case someone had a problem with the treaty payments).
Helping out at the administrative tent was wonderful because I was able to meet a lot of people from the community while handing out swag bags (also got pancake breakfast as well). The only time that it got stressful was when the students from the Rocky Lane School (over 100 students) came to get their own swag bag. Thinking about it now, it was a blur as it all happened so fast.
After spending the morning in the administration tent, we met up with Andrew and Kylie (last year's interns) who came up from Edmonton to attend the event. We spent hours upon hours talking about what has been going on since we last saw them in May. Shortly after Andrew and Kylie showed up was when it was time for the IRS monument to be unveiled, which was one of the highlights of the day.
To witness the unveiling of the monument were some important people including the High Level mayor and the Chief and Council. When the monument was unveiled, the feeling was surreal. The monument was supposed to be unveiled the year previous but due to various circumstances, it had to be postponed until this year. I feel very honored and grateful to have experienced this unveiling (how often can you say that you were there when a statue was unveiled?!) To the Indigenous people, the statue represents their peoples resilience, to all survivors, both past and present, of the residential school system.
After the monument was unveiled, there were many pictures taken, including pictures with the chief and council members, elders, and community staff members who set up the event. It was amazing to see how many elders the community had and how much love and respect they received from the community. By the time pictures were done being taken, it was time to start prepping dinner. One of the staff members came up to me at this time and asked if I could play some games with the children. I rounded up most of the children and played various games like hot potato, duck duck goose, and magnetic darts. This was a lot of fun but I must say, it is hard to keep the children interested in the game.
To end off the night, Karmy, Kylie, Andrew and I went to a Tee Dance. On our way over, both Karmy and I were talking about how we don’t love dancing (not knowing that the dance that we were going to was a traditional dance ceremony!) It was amazing to watch the drummers prepare their drums by smudging them in the fire that was in the middle of the circle. The four of us stood on the outermost sides of the circle as we did not know if we were allowed to go in and dance with the rest of the community. This was something that I struggled with, especially with not knowing if something is sacred and only for community members. But this was no longer an issue when one council member took us by the hand and danced with us in the circle. In the end, we got to participate in 4 dances. When it was time to leave, I was covered in mosquito bites and was ready to head to bed.
The following day also held more activities, but did not start until the early afternoon. Before the event, Kylie and Andrew took us to Fort Vermillion where we got ice cream (this was the first thing that I ate that day. Ice cream for breakfast!) After this impromptu trip, Karmy and I headed to the community center to get set up for our event. We were hosting youth carnival games as well as Fathers Day card making.
A little bit after starting our activities, we got rained out and had to quickly move everything inside. The rain ended up continuing on for the entire day. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the children, getting to know them as this was the first time interacting with the youth. The night ended with a bingo which was also the first bingo held since the beginning of the pandemic. The entire weekend for that matter was the first big community event held in a couple of years. It was truly spectacular.
After an amazing few days, Sunday was a day of rest for us. Karmy and I chatted a little bit with Kylie and Andrew before they left to head back home. The remainder of the day was spent relaxing. I did a little bit of meal prepping and tried to write a blog but could not stay focussed as I was tired. Instead of blogging, I spent the rest of the day lounging around, enjoying some time for myself.
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