50 years of friendship celebrated at the 16th Maamwi Kindaaswin Pow Wow
By Kelly Anne Smith
NORTH BAY— The 16th Maamwi Kindaaswin Pow wow began with a Sunrise Ceremony at 5:30 am to start off a weekend of drumming and dancing, social connections, delicious food and highest quality wares in a good way.
On a cool day in Lee Park following Grand Entry, the president of the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre Maurice Switzer explained the Anishinaabemowin name of the 16 year-old pow wow, Maamwi Kindaaswin, means learning together in English. He explained the Friendship Centre is celebrating 50 years of service for the area’s urban Indigenous population.
“There are eight thousand First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people living in North Bay…We contribute a lot to this community. We pay taxes and contribute over $300 million a year to this city and we are an integral part of it.”
Switzer gave a special acknowledgement to NBIFC Eagle Staff carrier Andrew Sutherland for a lot of hard work putting up 2 teepees and an arbour in the rain and to NBIFC Program Director Jennifer Seguin.
From Nipissing First Nation, Sequin oversees 36 programs at the NBIFC and has been running the Maamwi Kindaaswin Powwow for 10 years. The hard work of 25 volunteers are fully appreciated in setting up and running the popular pow wow.
“This year, we have a lot of adult volunteers, which is great and we also get a lot of the high school kids that need their hours. In previous years, we had the military; this year, we weren’t quite as lucky to get them. We seem to get a really good group of volunteers altogether.”
After a year of coordinating the growing big event, Seguin’s favourite part is the Maamwi Kindaaswin Pow Wow weekend. Fundraising and food is always on Seguin’s mind.
“Indigenous tacos is one of our bigger sellers. That is one of our main fundraisers over in the NBIFC canteen. We also have a regular barbecue going with scone dogs. We are a non-profit and we have to either fundraise all the funds for these or find ways to bring them in. This year, we did two taco sales. We did a car wash. We did a yard sale. We did some catering events to try to bring in the money. It has grown so much in the last few years. And the cost of everything, everything has gone up— whether it’s gas for the canteen or the cost of the bus to rent to have the shuttle.”
New this year is the welcomed bus service. The free shuttle bus left every 30 minutes from Northgate Square to Lee Park. Seguin says many people are travelling to the Maamwi Kindaaswin.
“I know we have people as far as Toronto that have come. We get people from Wiky and Manitoulin Island, Temagami First Nation, and Dokis. They do tend to travel. We have a really good group that seems to come every year, too. And we have a few other food vendors that have joined us that have been great because it’s hard to feed everybody. We have a community supper at 5 o’ clock.”
The North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre funded the feast by Savoir Faire, Seguin explains.
“We did have our staff make bannock on Friday that will be served with our supper tonight. And we usually have about 500 for supper. We feed them all. For next year, I’m definitely going to be looking out for partnerships to recover the cost of the dinner or maybe the bus specifically.”
North Bay’s Indigenous Friendship Centre is one of 31 in the province. From Six Nations of the Grand River, the Co-Executive Director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres Sean Longboat was at the Maawi Kindaaswin Powwow calling it an honour to dance in the circle. Longboat extended his appreciation to the hard work of the staff and the volunteers.
“You set the bar high. There’s friendly competition amongst Friendship Centres across the province. I can tell you that this Friendship Centre sets the standard in terms of the work they do.”
The NBIFC’s Executive Director Kathy Fortin is always pleased at the well coordinated Maamwi Kindaaswin Powwow.
“The pow wow is definitely the way to celebrate 50 years of friendship within the North Bay area. It’s great. There’s a lot of people here. It seems there’s a lot more people at this time of the day. And it seems like there’s a lot more dancers.”
The 16th Maamwi Kindaaswin Powwow participants include:
Lead Dancers
Head Male George Rose
Head Female Holly Rodrique
Youth Male Niibin Nakagee
Youth Female Mya Katt
Child Male Kenai Lazarus
Child Female Arizona Friday
Head Male Elder Dan Commanda
Head Female Elder Virginia Goulais
Head Veteran Bertha Sutherland
Veteran Brian Nelles
Veteran Leo Croxan
MC
Bob Goulais (who introduced his wife as his “Supreme Helper, Deputy Minister of Health.” She’s Deborah Richardson, Mi’gmaq of the Pabineau First Nation).
Arena Director
Gerald Chum
Eagle Staff Carriers
Andrew Sutherland, Staff, North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre
George Rose-Michael Smith, Timmins Native Friendship Centre
Gerry McComb, Canadore College and First Peoples Centre