Fort William First Nation hosts virtual pow wow

A video of the Fort William Virtual Pow Wow held on July 3 is posted online at the Fort William Facebook page.

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION— A Sunrise Ceremony by Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek Elder Jim Misquart was featured at the beginning of the Fort William Virtual Pow Wow on July 3.

“The theme for this here is paying tribute, honour and memory to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,” Misquart says during the Virtual Pow Wow. “But we must also give our thoughts and our prayers to the recent discoveries of a lot of our children that went through the residential school system. We will also pay our tribute and honour to those individuals that are now in the Spirit World.”

Dave Simard, member of the Thunder Mountain Singers, says they were “very honoured” to be asked by Fort William to share three songs at the Virtual Pow Wow.

“When we were young, we were given this name and we travelled all over North America to bring awareness about this beautiful mountain that we have here and the people and the community,” says Simard, a Lac Seul citizen. “We were very honoured to carry that name for many years and we are very honoured to continue to carry that name, Anemki Wajiw.”

Karen Bannon, director of health and community services at Fort William, spoke about the importance of the creation of the red dress that was unveiled at the Virtual Pow Wow.

“It is basically a commemoration and a long-lasting legacy that we will have to start the healing in our community in regards to those who have gone missing and murdered.”

Kyler Bannon Green, a project coordinator at Fort William, says the red dress was decorated with 365 jingles to show the daily violence many women face.

“When designing and creating the dress, it was like it was already alive from the beginning to the completion,” Green says. “A lot of emotion and healing took place as a family — we are honoured and grateful to have had the experience and the healing the dress has already given. It showed its power to heal immediately.”

Denise Collins, creator of the red dress, says a jingle dress was incorporated into the design of the red dress.

“We smudged everything [used for the red dress] and we sat and we talked, we laughed, we cried,” Collins says. “The next day was when everything all came together — I didn’t really know what was going to take place or how the dress was going to come alive, and it was just so natural, it was meant to be that way.”

Fort William Elder Rita Fenton unveiled the red dress created for healing in the community during the Fort William Virtual Pow Wow on July 3.

Fort William Elder Rita Fenton says it was an “honour” to unveil the red dress at the Virtual Pow Wow.

“We all have people in our lives that have been affected by murdered and missing family members in our communities all across Turtle Island,” Fenton says. “So we are all here in honour and memory of the loved ones that have been taken from our lives and are still missing and never forgotten.”

Fort William Chief Peter Collins says there is still a “lot of heavy lifting” needed across the country with regards to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

“We talk about the lost souls of the children that have been found recently at these residential schools and the heartache we as First Nation communities deal with constantly,” Chief Collins says. “We have to deal with it head-on, we have to deal with every level of government to make sure that we’re not forgotten, our kids are not forgotten and our murdered and missing women are not forgotten.”

The Virtual Pow Wow is posted on the Fort William Facebook page.