Pincher Creek cultural days builds steps to partnership

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The southern Alberta town of Pincher Creek opened up its doors from Jan. 21 to 25 for the eighth annual Cross Cultural Days. The special event is geared to increase awareness about Aboriginal culture and traditions within Native and non-native communities.

Pincher Creek's location makes for an ideal place to host the event as the town is bordered by the Peigan First Nation and the Blood reserve is also situated close by. The close proximity of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities leads to a lot of interaction between the different cultures.

Cross Cultural Days featured a series of workshops, a competition powwow and several sports tournaments. The workshops offered a variety of topics to inform and educate more than 100 people who attended them. The theme of the workshops was 'Building on Common Ground.'

Reg Crowshoe, with the Old Man Cultural Centre, said the importance of knowing about the past will help Aboriginal people succeed in the present and the future.

He said it can be a balancing act, but the results will benefit Native people in today's world.

"How are we bringing our culture with us so that we still maintain ourselves as a special type of people and still being able to fit into Canadian society today," he asked.

Learning and understanding the culture is the first thing more Aboriginal people need to do, he said.

People need to turn to the "limited number of people on our reserves" to learn more about Aboriginal culture before what he described as more "confident communities" can be created for Native people on their way to self-government.

The Elders, he said, need to be learned from in order for the youth to understand the meaning of the culture. People can't just take up Aboriginal culture, it has to be learned before it can be experienced, he said.

"We need to start the process from the outside looking in," he said. "You can't just jump into the middle and start."

Cross Cultural Days, especially the 'Building Common Ground' workshops, is designed to help start the teaching process. It gives people the opportunity to look at Aboriginal culture from the outside and gives them the opportunity to learn more.

For non-Aboriginal people, it gives them a chance to learn the basics of Aboriginal culture and for Aboriginal people, it lets them learn more about their own ways of life and the importance of learning more.

Crowshoe said the youth need to be targeted to learn more in order to help "bridge the gap," within the Native community and to the non-Aboriginal people. That gap, he said is not as wide as some would think.

Ronnie Leah, a consultant with the Circle of Learning in Lethbridge, also drew on the similarities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. She said all too often people forget that everyone is equal. Everyone shares common values in life, she said. It is the culture which is different, and that difference should be respected.

"One of the things I like to do is to make sure that everyone knows they have culture," Leah said. "There's the visible aspects, like the food or clothing. . . but about nine tenths of our culture is hidden."

Cross Cultural Days was a way to show people some of those hidden cultural traits.

John Snow Jr., working with Aboriginal services at the Telus communications company, said for him the importance of his culture combined with education has helped him be successful in the workforce.

He said Aboriginal students need to set goals and strive to achieve them. Remembering the past and the culture should be a part of those goals.

"You can set your goals and achieve them and still retain your culture," he said. "We are all trying our best to get ahead, but you have to do it while remembering our culture. . .We need to ask, 'How can I use [culture] to benefit not just myself, but my community. We need to remember it, learn it, and apply it."

Although many people attending Cross Cultural Days were from the Peigan, Blood, Pincher Creek or Lethbride areas, one group of people traveled 2,000 km. for the event.

Shirley La Malice, the Hay River Dene Band administrator and a van-load of people from the Northwest Territories made the trek to Pincher Creek to take part in the workshops.

Most of the group was from the Hay River Advanced Education Centre.

"We came down to learn. It is kind of a field trip for them," said LaMalice. "It's been quite interesting for them from the cultural aspects. It can help them in their communities."

LaMalice said the trip has been worth it. She said the cultural information the group takes back to Hay River will be valuable.

"That's the thing with our young people today, they really need their culture. It seems that there is a generation gap between the young people and the Elders," she said. "So we've got to bring that back together to get them to know their culture, their history and their language."

Pincher Creek's Napi Friendship Centre organized Cross Cultural Days.