Fort William First Nation Pow Wow 2026
By Rick Garrick
ANEMKI WAJIW — Fort William First Nation’s Chief Michele Solomon stressed how important it was to connect with citizens who travelled long distances to attend the community’s 2026 Summer Pow Wow, held July 3-5 at Anemki Wajiw in Fort William First Nation.
“I’m always honoured to come to our Annual Pow Wow and have the opportunity to express gratitude to all the people that come to be part of this celebration with us here on our beautiful sacred mountain, Anemki Wajiw,” Chief Solomon says. “We’ve had people from Fort William First Nation that travel a long distance to come here and be with us and connect with family and friends here, so I’m just really grateful that we get to do this on this sacred mountain every year.”
Chief Solomon also stressed the importance of having two Fort William First Nation youth, Nevaeh Morriseau and Brentley Collins, as the head dancers at the pow wow.
“It hasn’t been like that every year, but that tells you that our community is healing and coming together and growing— growing in our culture and growing in our traditions,” Chief Solomon says.
Collins stressed why it was important for him to participate in the pow wow as a head dancer and a drummer with the Charging Thunder Singerz drum group.
“It’s to honour our Indigenous people and loved ones just to come up here and dance for your Ancestors or your loved ones who passed away,” Collins says. “That’s why I’m dancing and singing today.”
Dean Maud, one of the drummers with the Charging Thunder Singerz drum group and a Skownan citizen in Manitoba, also stressed why it was important for him to participate in the pow wow.
“I come here to express my culture, to help represent where I’m from because not much of my family come here for pow wows because all my family is in Manitoba,” Maud says. “This is where everything started for me — I wasn’t too big back in culture in Manitoba, but once I got to this mountain (Anemki Wajiw), everything started for me—sweats, hoop dancing, drumming, sacred fires, all that.”
Emery Wesley, a drummer with the Walking Bear drum group that was the host drum at the pow wow and a Ginoogaming citizen, says it was a dream of his to be the host drum at Fort William First Nation’s pow wow.
“This is our first time doing it and we’ve been singing for a few years now; it’s pretty great to get that opportunity,” Wesley says, noting the host drum has a lot of responsibilities. “You have to know all these different songs; you have to know the Grand Entry songs, the Flag Songs, Veteran Songs, and there’s songs for special occasions like the Healing Songs a family might ask for, and then some just good rockin’ tunes and loud vocals and good energy.”
Melissa Cook, who lives in Fort William First Nation, says it was a beautiful day at the pow wow on Saturday.
“The Creator has blessed us with a blue sky, and the view of the mountain is crisp and the energy is buzzing,” Cook says. “Everybody is here together to celebrate the Anishinaabe culture and learn about the different parts of the culture that are important and the teachings for all of us.”
Gail Bannon, Pow Wow Coordinator at Fort William First Nation, says they had Pipe Ceremonies on both Saturday and Sunday morning and a feast on Saturday evening.
“We had a few Pipes come in and it was a beautiful ceremony,” Bannon says. “We had our local community member provide the feast to feed 600 people, and it was a beautiful fish and moose meat stew feast.”