Midwinter powwow draws more than 800 to Friendship Centre

The Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre opened its midwinter powwow on Saturday with a Grand Entry saluting indigenous nations and several veterans coming together for the daylong gathering of dancers, drummers, food and ceremony.

The annual event is both a cultural celebration and a gathering place for Indigenous people who live away from their home communities, while also reflecting cross-border ties among Indigenous nations that long predate the Canada-U.S. boundary.

The powwow is the largest annual event hosted by the Friendship Centre on Buffalo Road, with more than 800 people in the packed gymnatorium.

The schedule included intertribal dancing, ceremonial songs and demonstrations open to participants and spectators. Food prepared on site included corn soup, lamb and scone, Indian tacos, strawberry shortcake and a strawberry juice.

Geralda Jamieson, interim executive director of the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, told Fort Erie Radio the powwow exists partly to support Indigenous people who now live outside their original territories.

“We realize there’s a gap for us in a community. We’re Indigenous people who are away from our own communities. So it’s an opportunity to gather, to celebrate, to dance, to have food, to listen to the drums. It’s good medicine for us,” said Jamieson.

The powwow opened with Grand Entry led by emcee Jordan Whiteeye, who guided ceremonial dancing contests throughout the day.

Cultural representatives carried several flags into the arena, including Haudenosaunee, Métis, Two-Spirit, Canadian and United States flags, along with eagle staffs which represent unique cultural elements a resilience.

Shannon Cotter, an organizer with the centre, told Fort Erie Radio the event celebrates the end of winter and welcoming the community back.

“It is also about resilience, revitalization of culture, and just an all-around gathering to bring community together, as well as the broader community,” said Cotter.

Several vendors also set up tables around the Friendship Centre, offering handmade goods, crafts and other items to visitors throughout the day.

Veterans honoured during the entry included Ronald Cook Jr., a Seneca veteran who served in Panama, Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division, and Vietnam veteran Skip Harold Miracle.

Other flag carriers included members of Six Nations and Kettle Point First Nation.

Jamieson reported that several veterans who carried flags live in the United States and travel to the powwow each year.

“Today is a day of celebration, and we acknowledge all the people that have been in conflict or supportive in the armed forces, no matter what they are. We want to honor and respect you today just for that,” Jamieson said.

The current trade disputes between Canada and the United States do not affect the long-standing cross-border relationships among Indigenous nations attending the powwow.

“We didn’t put that boundary there. Someone else did. But we have the right to travel back and forth. We have the right to live there. We have the right to live here,” she said.

The centre has operated in the community for roughly three decades and organizes the powwow with staff from several programs within the centre.

“I think that we have established ourselves in community in regard to providing this occasion, this powwow, for our community,” said Jamieson.

About 70 staff members from the Friendship Centre, Aboriginal Head Start and the child care centre share responsibility for organizing the event, including food preparation and coordination with powwow officials.

Jamieson reported that dancers and drummers are quick to volunteer at the event for the wider public. Visitors travel from communities across southern Ontario, including Six Nations and Oneida, along with relatives from the United States.

“It’s community. It’s camaraderie. We’re all different nations, but we’re all Indigenous,” she said.

The ceremony also included veterans and representatives of police services invited to participate in Grand Entry, including Niagara Regional Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP.

Mayor Wayne Redekop spoke at the beginning of the event about the importance of the centre, and the Indigenous peoples within Greater Fort Erie.

“The mayor is always supportive of us,” said Jamieson. “He always has been, always will. I can call him in a heartbeat and he will answer the call as well. We do that the same for them. It’s all reciprocal.”

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