What to do in and around Montreal for National Indigenous Peoples Day

Native Montreal, a friendship centre, is gearing up to host its biggest event of the year to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day Saturday in Verdun.

For nearly 30 years, the summer solstice has provided an opportunity to celebrate Indigenous arts, tradition and culture.

Philippe Tsaronséré Meilleur, Native Montreal's executive director, says he's especially looking forward to seeing families come together and build community — something that isn't always easy to do given funding and infrastructure barriers, he said.

"[It's] super important because people have to see each other outside of just tackling life challenges and trying to build services or do things like that. We need to just hang out, have some fun and relax," said Meilleur.

"We honestly still don't have many opportunities to meet up as a community."

Native Montreal will hold a family barbecue-style event at Arthur-Therrien Park from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. featuring live music by Backwater Township, Innu throat singer Nina Segalowitz and the Pow Wow Rangers, a group of women drummers. 

Kokums, "grandmothers" in Cree, will compete in a cook-off, children will have games to play and vendors will be showcasing their arts and crafts.

The event is happening across from some land the organization has been holding since 2018 with the goal of developing it for a major housing project and creating a space for community gatherings.

"We have many community organizations, but we don't have any major space to hold big events," said Meilleur. "So we end up having to, you know, utilize parks and rent out spaces and I think that has a direct impact on our capacity to hold events as frequently as we would probably like."

He says development has stalled due to contamination issues and lack of political support, but that the centre is still trying to make possible an indoor gathering space for the community.

Land InSIGHTS, an organization that promotes Indigenous culture, is hosting an event at Montreal's Old Port Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. There will be a tobacco ceremony as well as traditional drums and dance.

People can also go a little later in the day to the Botanical Garden where they can shop an open-air market and listen to a performance by Wendat singer-songwriter Eadsé.

At Cabot Square, the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal is co-hosting with POP Montreal a starting at 3 p.m. featuring Anishinaabe singer-songwriter Leonard Sumner, duo Miesha and the Spanks, and Digawolf among others. There will also be a performance by the Sinquah Family Hoop Dancers, a soapstone carving workshop and a market.

For more information about what's going on in the city, the Montreal Indigenous Community Network has put together a list that can be found here.