Dance will celebrate man's spirit

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On April 17, the drums will beat a steady rhythm at the Ben Calf Robe School for Garret Campiou Lefthand, who would have turned 18 years old on April 20.

It will be the second in a series of four memorial dances for Garret, who died from injuries he received in a beating outside a school in November 2000.

Garret's aunt, Martha Campiou, said her nephew would have been making the transition from boy to man if he had lived, so at the gathering all the young men who are 18 or turning 18 will be asked to dance one dance in honor of Garret. They will also receive a gift at the giveaway.

The honor dance for that transition time in a young man's life was a ceremony once common in Aboriginal culture, but seldom is celebrated now.

"Through this ceremony, we want to emphasize that he would have been entering a new phase in his life, his being accepted in society as a man, and not a teenager anymore. This was the custom in Aboriginal society long ago, where young men were honored when they reached a certain age, but we rarely see that anymore. I believe that it is still important to recognize the young men in society. Quite often young men are just left on their own. I noticed that there is a lack of compassion towards male youth. All of sudden they are considered a child and the next day they are considered men without any recognition of their starting the next journey on their life," she said.

Campiou said her nephew had many gifts to give to the world and that she would like people to know that he was a wonderful and caring teenager.

The memorial dance is hosted by the Campiou family and the Spirit Keeper Youth Society. The society is a newly formed group that helps teenagers who are alienated from their families and living on the streets turn their lives around.

Garret was born in Edmonton in 1986 and came to be in the care of the Campiou family after he was abandoned by his mother.

"Our family is the only one he knew while growing up. At that time we couldn't find any of his mother's family, so he ended up being a Campiou. I always believe that in the Aboriginal community we do not have to be related by blood to care for someone and to love them, especially if they are children, so Garret became a part of our family," she said.

Tragedy struck Garret again when the woman that he had come to know as his new mother died in a car accident in 1990. A few years later, Garret's new father was diagnosed with colon cancer and had to go through numerous operations.

In his short life, Garret had been through a lot, said Campiou, but he could always smile and laugh. He liked visiting with his relatives, and wanted to be a powwow dancer.

Campiou said he was also ambitious. His dream was to be a firefighter or a pilot.

"He was very polite. He was aware of our tradition, on how it is important that Elders are always respected, and at gatherings he would always ask them if they needed anything. He was quite proud of the Campiou family. He would tell people who we were. He'd say this is my auntie; this is my cousin. He just had a wonderful spirit. He would say that when he got a good job that he was going to make a lot of money and buy his dad a house, and take his cousins to Mexico. He liked Mexico," said Martha Campiou.

Although Garret's life was filled with adversity he was not hardened by his experiences. He was friendly to everyone and she thinks that might have been what contributed to his death. Garret met a group of young people at a bus stop, and after being with them for a time, the young men in the group turned on him and beat him viciously.

"He was too trusting. I believe that boys should take care of each other, because they are just as vulnerable out there as the girls are. They have to start to keep an eye out for each other; that they should not be out alone. A bad thing happened to Garret, but out of this I think that he's somehow created an awareness of how important lfe is and how senseless violence is, not just in the Aboriginal community but in every community as well. Violence does not solve anything," she said.

"Although it was tragic and so sad, maybe his message is to bring people together in peace and not in violence. I believe that, because he always had a way of bringing strangers together, and I still see him doing that," she said.