National Indigenous Peoples Day brings dance and caribou awareness to Montreal

The alley beside the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal erupted in song and dance and lively conversation as people gathered to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day Friday morning.

The event, a collaboration between Land InSights cultural organization and the museum, kicked off celebrations on the second-longest day of the year, this time dedicated to the boreal caribou, or atiku in Innu. 

"Atiku is the soul of the forest," said André Dudemaine, the Innu director and co-founder of Land In Sights. "If the atiku cannot survive in the forest it means the forest itself, the nature itself, Mother Earth herself is now in danger."

For over 25 years, Indigenous groups in Quebec have been asking for the protection of the animal which has been listed as threatened since 2003, says Dudemaine.

Federal Environment Minister Guilbeault recommended the adoption of an emergency decree to protect the species earlier this week. He said Friday the decree was supported by the federal cabinet and that he's had a first meeting with Indigenous leaders to get started on a conservation plan. 

National Indigenous Peoples Day is always a special opportunity for Dudemaine to express his culture, but today was made especially important by this display of political will, he said.

Ray Deer comes back to the McCord Museum every year to celebrate, dance and make his and his people's presence known, says the elder dance troupe leader.

"We come back to re-establish our foothold on the island of Montreal just to have them recognize that this is ours and they need to acknowledge that," said Deer, who is from the Kanien'kehá:ka community of Kahnawà:ke south of Montreal.

Deer and his fellow dancers stepped to the steady beat of a drum circle before members of the public were invited to join in. 

They performed three dances, the duck and dive, an inter-tribal dance and the alligator dance, a traditional Haudenosaunee dance. 

"We were told as long as we did this dance, we would never see alligators on our territory. And you see it worked," said Sedalia Fazio, an elder from Kahnawà:ke, before bursting into song. 

Celebrations continued through the afternoon at Cabot Square where the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal hosted a concert in collaboration with POP Montreal.

The free event featured performances from the Beatrice Deer Band, Aysanabee, Anachnid, Matiu, Siibii and the Black Bear Singers.

The Sinquah Family Hoop Dancers also performed for the crowd. The trio made up of two brothers and their father represent the Hopi, Tewa and Choctaw nations in Northern Arizona.