Gathering quenches thirst of parched Native community

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Billed as "A:keknon," a Mohawk term for "The Community - Our Extended Family," the thirteenth annual traditional awareness gathering presented by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto was held on April 24 and 25.

The two-day event included 23 workshops by 14 Elders and traditional teachers, with a drum social and youth dance following the first day of workshops, that also included an eagle feather presentation and giveaway.

A craft fair ran in conjunction with the traditional gathering. The workshops were filled, sometimes to overflowing.

Probably the highlight of the event was a performance by the Galwin'ku Ratpja Dancers of the Yolnju Aboriginal people of northeast Arnhemland in Australia, who had just managed to get to Toronto after a performance earlier in Chicago. Even though they had to leave many of their props behind in the United States, because of customs problems, they still thrilled the people in attendance with their songs and dances.

Dennis Stark, chair of the Anishnabek Committee that co-ordinated the event, said he was only expecting about 200 delegates but was pleasantly surprised that about 500 registered. He considered it part of a resurgence in Aboriginal culture.

"This is probably the most important event that the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto puts on each year because we bring in teachers and Elders from across North America and it gives the Toronto community a chance to hear them," he said.

He said that many Aboriginal people have been disconnected from their culture for a variety of reasons and this event allows them to gather and reconnect, a process that Stark himself went through.

"Six years ago, I didn't know hardly anything about my Native heritage," he said, adding that past traditional gatherings helped him reconnect with his own people.

"For a lot of the youth, they're seeing their parents come back to the circle, their grandparents back in the circle, and they're happy to fall in line too," he continued. "Among the youth, there's a tremendous resurgence and pride in being Aboriginal."

#The president of the Native Canadian Centre, Robert Adams, considered it an inevitable evolution that traditional knowledge would be presented in the cities, since 50 per cent of Aboriginal people now live in urban centres.

"This event is like spiritual water, as if we were in a desert and we needed some thirst-quenching spiritual nourishment," he said. "Some of the cultural memory is lost and, in surprising ways, it's being developed more and advanced in the cities. . . . Across North America, Native history, culture, memory and practice has caught on in the last 10 years like a wildfire on the plains."

Like Stark, Adams also came to previous traditional gatherings to remain connected to his Aboriginal roots.