More than 500 servings of soup, 10 slabs of bannock cut into more than 600 pieces, 600 Jello cups, more than 350 students from a dozen school classrooms around the region, four ceremonial blankets and more than four hours of Indigenous education, laughter, ceremony, drumming, and dancing.
Those are some of the numbers recorded at the March 12 Educational Round Dance hosted for the twenty-third year at Portage College in Lac La Biche. Beyond the numbers, the Round Dance event is held to bring awareness to the Indigenous culture, educate, and to share common bonds, explained event emcee Ben Cardinal from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation.
“We are going to bring this circle of life together and we are going to enjoy the day,” he told a crowd of young school students, college staff and students, dignitaries, and community members who filled the Portage College gym.
Following an opening prayer and Pipe Ceremony, the beat of the drum group in the centre of the gym kept the feet moving throughout the afternoon event. Cardinal said the drum of the Round Dance is like a heartbeat.
“Today, the hope is that you will learn something, you’ll gain something from that spirit inside you — that heartbeat you hear when you are going to sleep at night when it’s nice and quiet. It’s like that drum in the middle,” he told the crowd as circles of people held hands and danced around the drummers.
Throughout the event, including a lunch-break for soup, bannock and pudding, Cardinal explained the significance of the pipe ceremony, the drums and songs, the Giveaway, and the Blanket Ceremony that honoured four area women for their dedication to learning, culture and the community.
The recipients at this year’s Blanket Ceremony were Beaver Lake Cree Nation Elder and Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Gladue, Portage College Community Social Work instructors Jana McKinley and Audrey Cochrane, and Portage College administrative support Robbie Scott. Each recipient was gifted a blanket that was made specifically for traits they possess.
“Each one of these blankets that is smudged and prayed over and gifted and wrapped around these individuals is going to give them that much more life,” said Cardinal. “Every time we have a ceremony, no matter what ceremony… we are having ceremony because we want life, a good life, a safe life. That’s another teaching … we ask for life, we ask for blessings that our families are safe, that our homes are safe that our travels are safe.”
Portage College President and CEO Dr. Stephen Price said the lessons from the Educational Round Dance, and the continuing education and awareness of Indigenous culture, are ways to grow stronger together.
“We are all on a journey, and as learners and leaders, we grow stronger when we learn from another with humility, through openness and with curiosity,” he said. “This educational round dance is part of Portage College’s commitment to Indigenous cultures, honouring them and strengthening the relationships with the people, the Nations and the Settlements in the Portage region.”
Price was given the Indigenous name Ai piss sa pi (which translates to the English word Scout) by a Blackfoot elder several years ago. He said the name was given to challenge him to explore and search, to meet new people and to have conversations. He encouraged everyone at the Educational Round Dance to enjoy the same challenge.
“We are here today to do all of that,” he said. “We recognize and appreciate the generations of knowledge of culture and community that has shaped this place long before any of the settlers arrived, and it continues to guide us today.”
For more details about Portage College and its community collaborations, contact the public relations department or visit the Portage College website.
Portage College acknowledges that its service region is on the traditional lands of First Nation Peoples, the owners of Treaty 6, 8 and 10, which are also homelands to the Métis people. Portage College honours the history and culture of all people who first lived and gathered in these lands.