Anishinaabeg come together at first in-person pow wow in Thunder Bay
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — The Gathering of the People Pow Wow enabled people to gather and dance again in Thunder Bay after Pow Wows were cancelled last year over the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. The Pow Wow was held Aug. 6-8 at Current River Park in Thunder Bay.
“Pow wows are great,” says former Biigtigong Nishnaabeg Chief Roy Michano. “Without pow wows, I don’t know how strong we would be. It’s special to see all the little ones around with us, and everybody else just gets up and has a good time.”
Fort William Elder Rita Fenton says this was the second pow wow she attended this year after attending the Fort William Virtual Pow Wow on July 3 for the unveiling of the Red Jingle Dress.
“People are just swarming to [this pow wow] because during that COVID-19, we didn’t have it,” Fenton says. “It’s amazing to see all the people out. It’s for our healing — people have been cooped up for so long and it’s just the fresh air and the gathering of the people like we used to do years ago.”
Nicole Richmond, lawyer, wellness consultant and educator and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg citizen, enjoyed being back in the circle again at the pow wow.
“It feels great to be back in the circle after such a long delay and it feels good to be with one another again in a way that builds our spirit and makes us feel good about ourselves as Anishinabe people,” Richmond says. “I’m a Jingle Dress Dancer and a Fancy Shawl Dancer and I’ve been dancing since I was a very young girl. So one of my big jobs is to be a role model for the young people in the circle and make them feel welcome here.”
Richmond says she did some traditional dancing performances in her home for school boards and some jingle dress specials and some competitions on Facebook during the pandemic.
“But this is my first actual pow wow and it feels good to be here,” Richmond says.
Kristy Boucher, communications officer-executive assistant for the Office of the Chief at Fort William, says it was “amazing” and “therapeutic” to be dancing at a pow wow again.
“It’s a time for healing and ceremony and celebration and coming together and acknowledging a lot, too, that’s been going on across Turtle Island over the past 18 months since we’ve had a chance to gather for a pow wow,” Boucher says. “So for me, it was very much needed.”
Boucher says her two sons attended the pow wow with her to support her and watch her dance.
“Chi-Meegwech to the organizers for putting this together so we could come together as Indigenous people,” Boucher says. “I know a lot of people have really needed it for their own purposes, I think healing mostly, and also too with jingle dress dancing, you dance for those who can’t dance and you dance to provide healing for those that need it. So that is an important part of being a Jingle Dress Dancer is to come when you’re called, so it was a pleasure to be here.”
Todd Genno, emcee at the pow wow and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg citizen, says this was the first pow wow that was open to the public in Thunder Bay since the pandemic.
“It was good to see everybody come out because we’ve been isolated for so long,” Genno says. “We need to gather — our people always gathered throughout our history, so when you take that away it is really hard on us. Doing this really strengthens us as people and as a community.”