National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration

Photos by Jason Wei

On June 23, 2018, we celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day with Richmond’s  Connections Community Services  and Pathways Aboriginal Centre, who organized this wonderful free community event. 

Visitors were treated to dance and musical performances by Shyama Priya and the Wild Moccasin Dancers, Madelaine McCallum, Norine Braun, and the Heilstuk Dancers. 

A creative community engagement art activity was presented by Christine Mackenzie, using recycled materials to design totems for visitors, who were invited to collectively colour-in and add their own creative flare. Rebecca Duncan interactive story-telling engaged a captivated audience on the Cannery plaza. 

Another highlight of the event was the “Bannock bake-off”, with Chef Maluh (Marlene Hale) doing a wonderful job of coaching the participants, and rousing the audience with tips, tricks and stories.  The popular Mr. Bannock’s Indigenous Food Truck made sure to satisfy the appetites of people craving bannock, with his hardworking crew including sons and third generation chefs, Marcus and Malcolm.

We thank Presenting Sponsor Port of Vancouver for the support of the event. Additional thanks to the Richmond Public Library for bringing a great collection of Indigenous literature and programming, as well as VanCity for sharing games and activities at their community tent.