A poster advertising National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21.Reading

Goals:

  • Read and respond to text
  • Share information about Canada’s National Indigenous Peoples Day with your family

Sunday, June 21th is Canada’s National Indigenous Peoples Day. Due to social distancing, many of the celebrations for this day have been moved online.

Powwows are celebrations that showcase Indigenous music, dances, regalia, foods, and crafts. Powwows are joyful and beautiful celebrations of culture and are held in the spring and summer to uplift people after the winter.

Today, learn more about the history of powwows, explore these short articles:

  • Brief History in relation to Indian Act – Canada’s Indian Act originally tried to forbid powwows!
  • Protocols – read about the rules and traditions of powwows.
  • Dance Elements – learn about the role of drums, songs, and the different dance elements.
  • Watch a video of the Whitefish Bay (Naotkamegwanning First Nation) powwow:

After reading:

  • What did you learn from reading these articles and viewing the video?
  • How could you share what you have learned with family members?

You won’t be able to attend a powwow on National Indigenous Peoples Day this year, but you can celebrate the day by sharing what you have learned and then watching the video of a powwow with your family!

Other Opportunities:

Note to families: Online articles can be challenging to read. If your child is logged into their WRDSB Google Account, they can use the Read and Write for Google Chrome plugin to have online text read to them.