Whitefish powwow honors children

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"Honouring Our Children" was the theme for Whitefish Lake First Nation's fourteenth annual traditional powwow held July 27 and 28. Whitefish Lake is just west of Sudbury.

Even with humidex temperatures soaring into the thirties, the turnout was excellent. At least seven drums and 100 dancers braved the high heat and hot sun on Saturday to dance.

There was a good selection of craft and food vendors and several hundred spectators. Sunday threatened severe thunderstorms, in fact a tornado hit a provincial park a few kilometers north of Sudbury, but the powwow continued without major weather interruptions.

The powwow grounds are surrounded by trees and good rough camping and the lake is within view of the dance area. Many people, especially the youth and the dancers, took advantage of this and swam to cool off.

Sudbury police officer Grant Dokis of the Dokis First Nation was asked by his commanding officer to wear his police uniform while having the honor of being one of the flag carriers for Grand Entry.

On Sunday, powwow participants and the audience were treated to dance demonstrations by two hoop dancers and a men's fancy dancer. In this part of Ontario unless you are attending a competition powwow men's fancy dancers are few and far between, so this was a great opportunity for people to be shown this style of dance.