More than 4,000 Elders from across North America are re-connecting with their culture, language and celebrating Indigenous heritage at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
The National Gathering of Elders theme is ‘Coming Home, Voices of Elders’ and is a place for sharing culture, traditions and history. The number one goal of the event is to build and strengthen the gap of education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Creedon Arcand is one of the helpers in the event, “oskâpêwis” in the Cree language, took many weeks to prepare the spiritual events which included daily pipe ceremonies, smudging and sweat lodges to keep everyone connected, focus and maintain positive energy.
With different Elders coming across North America, Arcand wants to honor everyone’s culture but wants to make sure Treaty 6 territory is being recognized.
Over the past few years, Arcand has noticed a heavy shift with non-Indigenous people learning about reconciliation and this event encourages non-Indigenous elders and community members to converse with everyone to continue learning about language, culture as well as truth and reconciliation.
The National Gathering of Elders will be running from 7am-8pm until Thursday, November 2nd. Details on the program and history of the event can be found on their website.
Photo’s from the 2023 National Gathering of Elders can be found below.
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