Elders pass knowledge to youth at summit

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About 150 people from Assiniboine nations in Canada and the United States gathered on Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation July 16 to 18 to take part in the sixth annual Nakota Summit.

This year marked the first year Pheasant Rump has hosted the event. Past summits have been held in Saskatchewan at Carry the Kettle First Nation, and in Alberta by Alexis First Nation and the Wesley band.

This year's participants travelled to the summit from Fort Peck reservation in Montana, Birdtail Sioux First Nation in Manitoba, and Alexis First Nation, as well as from Carry the Kettle, White Bear, Muskowekwan, Ocean Man, and Mosquito First Nations.

Ira McArthur, welfare administrator for Pheasant Rump, worked to coordinate this year's summit.

"I had a lot of fun with it. It was absolutely fabulous. I got to meet a lot of interesting people from a lot of the Assiniboine First Nations," he said.

The main purpose of the summit is for members of different Nakota tribes to gather and share their stories and experiences, McArthur said.

"It's a gathering to kind of get together to discuss how we can preserve the language most specifically, and to share stories from the different Nakota tribes, creation stories, and sometimes some of the more famous figures in our history amongst Assiniboine people."

Another important role of the summit is to provide a forum for Elders to pass on their knowledge to the Nakota youth.

"It was a primary focus," McArthur said, "bringing the Elders and youth together to be able to learn from the Elders, and hear some of their stories, and learn some of those things that they have to teach."

Some of the summit activities were geared specifically at the youth in attendance, including a day trip to a nearby water slide.

"Other than that, they hung around camp and they had Elders speak to them and tell them about roles and responsibilities of young adults, talk to them about life and how to care for themselves." McArthur sees a growing interest among Aboriginal youth to learn more about their culture and traditions, specifically on his home reserve of Pheasant Rump.

"We have a large number of youth who are very interested in pursuing our cultural ways, sweats and stuff like that." A sweat was held as part of the summit, and the youth were welcome to take part.

While the three-day summit featured a number of activities and presentations, McArthur felt the highlight of the event was a presentation by Dr. Kenny Ryan from Montana.

"He comes from the Fort Peck reservation. He's received a number of doctorates from a number of different universities down in the United States for the knowledge that he possesses about the Assiniboine people and the history and everything. So he definitely made things work." McArthur said. "A lot of people phoned, and people continue to phone today that they were very excited about his presentation, the things he had to say, and how he said those things."

Other presenters included former chief Henry Skywater of Birdtail Sioux First Nation, Leroy Comes Last from Fort Peck reservation, Linda Cumberland of Indiana State University, Lenus Red Feather from South Dakota, and Nelson Bunn, also from Birdtail Sioux First Nation.