Maple Ridge celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day with events in Memorial Peace Park on Saturday morning.
Three young people were the subjects of an honouring ceremony, as Garrison Lafferty, Theodore Jackson and Emily Barker-Voisine each received a cedar headband and a blanket.
MC Ginna Berg explained Barker-Voisine is a student menor at Westview secondary with a passion for indigenous social justice issues, who is on her way to SFU for First Nation Studies and a degree in education.
Lafferty is a mentor to other youth, who plays guitar and writes his own music. He is studying the trades at Kwantlen College.
Jackson is an artist who has long had a passion for traditional art of the Dene and other peoples, doing beading, painting and carving. He also makes clothing out of traditional supplies.
“I enjoyed it,” he said of the honouring ceremony. “I’m glad a lot of people showed up, to support the day.”
There was traditional singing, dancing drumming and food, in what the Fraser River Indigenous Society called “a special family day to celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples in Canada.”
ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
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