National Aboriginal Day was held Wednesday at Bovill Square to celebrate aboriginal culture.
It was an afternoon of drumming, learning aboriginal language, storytelling, games, and you can’t forget the moose calling. Not even the rain could damper the spirits of those who came out to celebrate.
The packed Bovill Square had attendees from all ages, from the young to the elders, with activities geared towards everyone.
The Fred George Moose Calling Contest saw Liliana Pesce, a teacher at Muheim Elementary School, with the loudest cheer from the crowd to win first place. She donated her prize to an elder, citing she had learned the moose call from her students and therefor she would be donating it.
Patricia Kolida, one of the organizers of Smithers’ National Aboriginal Day, said they added the language tent with Doris Rosso.
“She’s talking about Wet’suwet’en language, the basics about the language,” she said.
Raymond Dennis Jr. described what National Aboriginal Day means to him.
“Aboriginal Day celebrates us as First Nations living in Canada,” he said
Next year National Aboriginal Day will be instead be called National Indigenous Peoples Day.
“This year, I am also pleased to announce that from here forward the Government’s intention is to rename this day National Indigenous Peoples Day,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
