Pow-WOW!

It's a greater outdoor show than the Calgary Stampede and has more pageantry than the K-Days parade. If you've never been to the Poundmaker Powwow, it's like nothing you've ever seen before. It's spectacular to be sure, and it plays a powerful and important role to Indigenous people.

It's a social gathering, competition, religious ceremony – and more – all rolled into one weekend. It's free, family-friendly and it's open to people of all cultures. Yes, that means you're invited.

"That's what it's all about. We invite everybody to attend their powwow and just come in and focus on reconciling. It's all about bringing everybody in and feeling that culture all together as one," said Lacey Kaskamin, community engagement officer at Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Centres.

The facility is technically located in Sturgeon County but it's on Poundmaker Road, across the street from Kingswood and just down the road from Riverlot 56. There's lots of free parking on site but it's in the field so if there's rain, expect mud.

Regardless of the weather, expect a colourful, loud time with a lot of smiles. It's a place of open multicultural acceptance.

To a non-Indigenous spectator, it's more than spectacular to witness an event with so much cultural and spiritual significance. It's humbling, exhilarating, and deeply fulfilling. There's nothing like this in my family or my culture. I've lived in St. Albert for most of my life but never attended a powwow until last year. Not knowing what to expect, I thought that I might just feel out of place and be there for five minutes. Once I saw the Grand Entry, I felt the beauty of it all. I stayed for hours. This year, I'm going back.

What to expect

Show up for the Grand Entry and you'll sit in the stands to see a musical promenade with hundreds and hundreds of people in full regalia, meaning eagle feathers, headdresses, incredible beads and much more. Kaskamin said that there were more than 800 registered dancers last year. It's awe-inspiring and very colourful.

"It's very fascinating with so much to see and admire and appreciate. If you're able to join us and to see just the beautiful everything that happens in that circle, it's amazing. It brings out an amazing feeling from within. It really does," Kaskamin added.

Afterward, there are drum competitions and even the Iron Man and Iron Woman contests. They aren't foot races. It's an endurance dance-off that can last for hours.

"They dance until they can't dance any more. The last one standing and the last one dancing continuously moving to the beat of the drum is the one who wins."

There's some real grit involved and much at stake. The winner of each category takes home a new car, giving the competitors that much more reason to put on a good show.

While you're watching the dancers or listening to the drums, you could walk around and enjoy the food and other vendors selling clothes, art, and many other things. There's a lot to catch your fascination, and much more than you can absorb during one weekend.

"You get involved in the drumming, the regalia and the dancing and the protocol and all that stuff. It's very interesting to watch. I love the calling of the drums. That's my favourite part of any powwow," said Sharon Morin, Musée Héritage Museum programmer and director of Michif Cultural Connections, St. Albert's Métis Living Museum and Resource Center on Mission Avenue.

She makes a point of taking her grandchildren as often as she can.

"They're Métis but I find it's also my responsibility to share with them the culture. They're like any other kids: they haven't been exposed that much. I think it's a really good place for us to do that. I think that whenever we get an opportunity to go and participate and experience other cultures, it's always a good thing. It's a teachable thing. You get to learn about our community and the other people that live in our community."

What's more, you can camp there for free. Even the wood for the campfire is free. All you need to bring is your tent and the willingness to make friends.

To be a dancer

Adrian LaChance is a Plains Cree dancer from High Level with a lot of experience under his handmade regalia, having danced at powwows for 20 years.

"I'm what you call a powwow veteran now. It's transformed my life. It has allowed me to connect, honour and share my stories," he said.

As a child, he wasn't raised in his culture because of colonization and the residential schools and intergenerational trauma, he explained. He spent his childhood in and out of foster homes, which left him confused about his heritage and even his identity.

"I was lied to because I was always told that we worshipped dead animals, that we were confused, that we were savages, that we were pagan. I was freaked out about it. It wasn't until my adult years that I began to get the truth about our culture, that everything is sacred, everything has a purpose, everything has a story attached to it."

Dancing has allowed him to work to overcome the hurts of his past and to build a better future for him and other Indigenous peoples.

"Us First Nations people, we've overcome a lot and we're still overcoming. Intergenerational trauma is embedded in my DNA and my children's DNA. What I do to alleviate that pain is by dancing and singing, by storytelling, by going to ceremony, by smudging. Those practices have allowed us to heal. Every First Nations person is directly or indirectly carrying that trauma. This is how we're able to say, 'okay, that happened but we're still here and we're still celebrating. We're still dancing and still telling our stories.'"

He can see pride and honour being instilled in young dancers. It's in the way they smile and in the pride they take in "decorating their spirits." Dancing in regalia connects you not only to your ancestors but also to the animals. You're honouring the Creator and Creation, he said. It allows you to embrace something ancient: kindness, respect, honour, and love.

"It's a great honour to be at the event. It's something that I don't take for granted. You're honouring these spirits that are very old. They give you life, that spiritual strength, that ahkameyimok in the Cree language means 'not to give up, to keep trying'."

"Life is very short so you have to make the best of it. Be grateful that you've been given the opportunity to embrace an old way of celebrating. Canada is only 150 years old but we've been here longer than that … thousands of years. For us to continue celebrating and to honour is a beautiful thing."

The big theme

The powwow is always about honouring Indigenous elders but Poundmaker's Lodge has made that its official theme for this year's powwow.

"That definitely is a big deal to the Indigenous community. We have the utmost respect for our elders because they have taught us the things that we know today when it comes to culture, the background of our people," Kaskamin explained.

Elders come to the facility to do the teachings for its clients, helping them to reconnect to their spirits, minds, bodies, and emotions, she continued.

"They're the ones who lead the way for us. We want to let it be known that we appreciate everything that they do for us."

There will be many elders in attendance including war veterans who "have done so much for us and for our country." They will be joined by local church leaders including Bishop Jane Alexander of the Anglican Church, reverends from St. Albert United Church, and Bishop Sylvain Lavoie of the Catholic archdiocese.

"We're all going to be saying a prayer together. It's a beautiful feeling for everybody to be able to come together and have all of these elders and the people from the churches praying together. I'm pretty excited about that. I'm pretty excited for the whole powwow to be honest."

Reconciliation needs everyone to step up

The proximity of the Poundmaker Powwow makes it one of the easiest ways for people of any race or culture to take a step toward reconciliation. The site was the former location of one the city's two residential schools, places where Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced into inhumane conditions, often working as slaves, punished without cause, and abused in many other horrible ways. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of children went through its doors.

That's something that you can't ignore. It's a part of our common history. To reconcile the past takes people on both sides to do something.

"A big part of our powwow is inviting all different people from the community to come and join us in the spirit of truth and reconciliation," Kaskamin said.

She, like all the elders, dancers and other participants, hope that everyone can come together in these moments to experience common ground and to honour each other. There's no doubt that it's a serious, spiritual act yet it comes packaged in a totally unique festival atmosphere. Nothing even comes close.