Lethbridge kicks off National Indigenous Peoples Day

The City of Lethbridge celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day on Wednesday.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike joined forces to shine a light on the important event.

Kirby Smith, one of the directors of the Blackfoot Confederacy Tribal Council, explained what the day means to him.

“It’s so critical for us to have a clear understanding of who we are as a people, who we are like in terms of our presence in our traditional territory, and just understanding the kind of strengths and the kind of efforts and initiatives that we can bring to the table with the idea that we’re trying to overcome some of these obstacles. We know we talked about homelessness and so on, so I think it’s a day to remind us of that as well as a day that sort of marks  a very special spiritual occasion for us as well.”

Echo Nowak, the Indigenous Relations Specialist with the City of Lethbridge says this day is all about coming together as a community.

“We always hear about the tragedies and we hear about all the grief that is in our, in our community. And today is really about learning about our culture, about celebrating our culture here, celebrating the diverse different nations that live in Lethbridge and it really puts a focus on what we like to do and that’s coming together as a community and laughing and celebrating.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Lethbridge College helped raise a tipi in Galt Gardens in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day.