Happy National Aboriginal Day

We had the opportunity to celebrate National Aboriginal Day on the solstice, June 21, 2016, with the Tr'ondek  Hwech'in First Nation in Dawson City, Yukon Territory.  It was held on the grounds of their beautiful cultural centre on the shores of the Yukon River.

'

The women of this community do some of the most beautiful bead work I have ever seen.

When the first gold miners started to arrive in Dawson in the late 1800's, the chief, Chief Isaac had a dream that their culture would be lost so he went to a first nations community in Alaska and asked them to save their song, dances, etc., which they did.  In the not too distant past, I am not sure exactly when, the people went to the community in Alaska and learned about their culture.  So it is because of Chief Isaac's wisdom that they have learned their songs, dances, etc. which they performed on National Aboriginal Day.

The theme for the day was reconciliation.  This young woman sang a song that she wrote after her mother told her about her experience in residential school.  The people of this community have done a lot of healing which started by a group of women getting together with a counsellor and telling their stories about residential school.  Before that, no one talked about it. Later they put together a scrapbook of photos and memories which has been printed into an amazing book called Finding Our Way Home.

This is Chief  , the current chief of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation.

The dress below is part of an exhibit in the cultural centre in the room devoted to healing and reconciliation.  This piece is called Cutting Through Red Tape and if you look at the bottom of the dress there are words on each strip.

When the gold miners arrived in Dawson in the thousands, Chief Isaac moved his people down river to Moosehide (photo below) because he was worried about the influence all these people would have on his people.  No one lives in Moosehide any longer but every two years they have a weekend of festivities there.  The Tr'ondek Hwech'in have a land claims settlement that seems to have been very successful for them.  It appears to be a very healthy community and people seem to be well taken care of.  Most of them live just outside Dawson in their own subdivision.  From the highway, their houses are very nice.  There are a number of businesses with the name Isaac in honour of their past chief.

This plaque was unveiled on National Aboriginal Day, June 21, 2016.