TORONTO, June 21 (Xinhua) – With traditional dances, songs, and ceremonial drum performances, the First Nations community in Toronto celebrated the 18th annual National Aboriginal Day at downtown’s Fort York historical colonial museum.
Members of Canada’s First Nations community, the official name given to various groups of indigenous people in Canada, performed a Sunset Ceremony in the dry moat of the 200-year-old military garrison.
This year’s celebration coincides with the bicentennial of the war of 1812, fought between the United States and British Canada. The war’s key battle was fought at Fort York, with aboriginal people at the frontline.
“I think it’s extremely important for us to have a National Aboriginal Day. These are the founding people of the country and they’ve been here for 12,000 years,” said Fort York museum administrator, David O’Hara. “So I think at Fort York, it’s a wonderful place to talk about the history of the First Nations and their role in the development of this country.”
The celebration at the military garrison began with aboriginal elders telling folklores by a lit campfire, followed by traditional songs and dances with drums throughout the day, before culminating in a final ceremony.
The national holiday was first proposed in 1982 and has been observed annually since 1996 on the day of the summer solstice, a time when many aboriginal groups celebrate their cultures and heritage.
Although crucial in the formation of the country, Canada’s indigenous people have suffered a turbulent past due to violent conflicts and forced assimilation by the European settlers. Today, 3.8 percent of the total Canadian population is aboriginal, according to a 2006 Statistic Canada census.
“Hopefully, our numbers [will be] higher,” said Kyle Joseph Laforne, an Anishinaabe-Ojibwe performer at the ceremony. With a higher population, Laforne hopes that more and more aboriginal youths and new Canadians can learn about the significance of native culture in Canada.
In traditional ceremonial garb, goose feather headdress and eagle talon dance stick, Laforne threw his body to the ground and raises his arm to the air as a warrior would centuries ago. As a college student going into Environmental Sciences at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont., he stresses the importance of preserving aboriginal culture through traditional practices, languages, and storytelling among the younger generation.
“Because once that’s gone, we can’t even call ourselves the First Nations, because once your identity’s gone, it’s fully gone, right?” he said.