Student drummers participated in the annual Salmon Festival in Prince Rupert for the first time this weekend.
Daisy Clayton, member of the organizing group – the Prince Rupert/Port Edward Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Dancers & Society, said that their organization reached out to school boards to encourage student participation in the event and they were successful. Students brought their drums and learned different Indigenous songs and dances.
“For us, in this area, we teach our kids [to] be proud of who you are,” Clayton said. “And they know that the choices that they are making are not just affecting them and their immediate family but they are affecting us, our dance group, our dance family…this was the first year that we did the drum drill with the school kids.”
The 9th annual, two day multicultural event was hosted by the Prince Rupert/Port Edward Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Dancers & Society at the Civic Center on May 26/27.
The Salmon Festival is the celebration of the return of the salmon to coastal waters in the North Coast. According to organizers, the original idea behind the event is to bring together the urban areas that don’t have the opportunity that surrounding villages have to practice and participate in the Indigenous culture.
The celebration was opened by village chiefs who observed all traditional protocol. Political dignitaries such as Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, and Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond, dubbed “the chief of the biggest village in the North Coast,” were speakers at the event.
On day one, traditional cultural dancing dominated the agenda and school aged children had the opportunity to participate in drum drills. The grand opening was set for the evening and then followed by a dance by Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Dancers called “Mother’s Cry.”
On day two, all nations and cultures were welcomed as line dancers and Indo-Canadians, took center stage.
Clayton and the society hope that the festival will continue to grow.
Listen to the CFNR radio story with Daisy Clayton below:
