It was a beautiful day for a pow wow, and well over a 1,000 people came out to Nipissing University’s and Canadore College’s 19th annual Welcome Back Pow Wow. The event took place behind the schools, on the grassy hill beside the pond. Vendors and community services groups lined the grounds with their tables, leaving a large circle for the drummers, singers and dancers.
One of the main organizers, Ricki-Lee Scheck, the Student Placement Coordinator in the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, noted the event is a great way to welcome students to campus, highlighting that most of the dancers and musicians taking part are students.
“We have so many talented students,” she said, “not just dancers and singers but also our vendors who are artists. We have beaders and seamstresses, and it’s nice to see them all come out.” She added that talent also makes its way up the hill from the local high schools as well.
“It’s an event everyone really looks forward to.”
Ramon Kataquatic would certainly agree with Scheck. He’s been dancing at the Welcome Back Pow Wow since high school, and now he’s entering his first year at Canadore. His white regalia has an image of a wolf emblazoned on it, which represents “my name, and my father’s clan,” from Attawapiskat First Nation.
Kataquatic emphasized “it’s a day for dancing for Creator, dancing for others, dancing for the healing of the land, and especially for having fun.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
