Indigenous groups bring youth together to teach and learn from the future

Youth in Oxford County took part in a unique cross-cultural event hosted by members of various Indigenous communities on Wednesday where they learned from and shared about their different cultures and traditions.

Teens and young adults over the age of 14 took part in cultural presentations and art workshops facilitated by Indigenous elders, where they made T-shirts, mugs, sculptures and paintings. Local artists also taught them Powwow, hip-hop dancing, breaking and rap.

Kendell Wegg designed her own keychain at a caribou tufting workshop — used to create intricate, three-dimensional art using caribou hair. It's something she always wanted to learn but never got the opportunity before this event, she said.

"Seeing people from all different walks of life come together and spread knowledge is a really good feeling," said Wegg, 22, from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, near London.

The conference called "Building the Fire" was hosted in Woodstock, by the Indigenous Solidarity Awareness Network. The organization's director Patricia Marshal-DeSutter said its purpose is to invest in the future and expose youth to different skills and talents.

"As Indigenous people, seven generations is very important so we're trying to think about those generations that are coming and how we set them up," she said. "They're the decision makers of tomorrow so everything we do to impact them now affects our future."

Sukhman Bains, 19, attended the event to learn more about Indigenous language and traditions. She believes engaging in conversations with community members sharing their own stories and experiences is an important step toward true reconciliation, she said.

In an effort to step out of her comfort zone, Bains took part in a dot painting workshop led by a Métis elder, which taught her a lot more than just the art form, she said.

"As we were making dot paintings we learned about Métis people, their ancestors and the cultural experiences they've gone through and I think it's necessary for us to know if we want to make steps forward to be more inclusive and understanding of different cultures," said Bains.

Elder Eric Martin facilitated a dreamcatcher workshop with his daughter, which he said was a great bonding activity for the pair. Dreamcatchers are very significant to Indigenous communities and signify trapping a bad dream in a web and a call for good dreams to come back the next night, he said.

"There is interest from people who come here and keep an open mind," said Martin. "It's not just a craft, it has a lot more meaning and seeing their facial expressions coming alive when they actually see it makes me really happy."

The event also featured delicacies from various countries like Jamaica, Nigeria and others. Bringing different cultures together breaks down differences and allows communities to come together as one, said Marshal-DeSutter, adding she hopes to host the event annually.

"I'm really hoping we can see that even though sometimes we get divided by labels, we are all one human race and we have the ability to work together to make a brighter future."