Power of the powwow to draw thousands

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This article was published 28/09/2022 (818 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Healing begins with the beat of the drum.

Wayne Mason has witnessed the power of powwows, sweat lodges and Indigenous ceremonies over the last five decades.

The executive director of Wa-Say Healing Centre, Mason, 68, doesn’t just believe this, he knows it to be true.

Mason, a Cree man from Fisher River First Nation, describes the drum’s thrum as something that begins in a person’s chest, reverberates throughout their body, moves their feet, lifts their spirits and resonates for days — or even years.

“You go there, and you feel that drum, and it’s like the heartbeat. The heartbeat of Mother Earth… Oh, man, it just makes you feel good,” he said.

On Friday, Mason and his team at Wa-Say will host the second annual Orange Shirt Day powwow on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Last year, Wa-Say hosted the powwow at St. John’s Park, which drew more than 10,000 people and almost overwhelmed the 6.8-hectare green space on north Main Street.

“We were shocked,” Mason said. “All you could see was just orange… a sea of orange.”

At the time, people were reeling from the discovery of more than 1,000 potential unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools across the country. Nearly every person wore Indigenous ceremonial garb or a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “every child matters,” Mason said.

It was a day of mourning, but more so, healing.

“Powwows are about celebrations… it helps you build that confidence and self-esteem in people. That’s what we need. That’s what helps people heal,” he said.

Mason remembers the day as being full of love, laughter and Indigenous spirit. People of all classes, creeds and cultures came together to rejoice and reflect, and the drums were relentless and powerful, he said.

This year promises to deliver the same.

Wa-Say is asking attendees to gather at the Oodena Celebration Circle at The Forks at 10 a.m. Friday to join in a traditional pipe ceremony led by Indigenous elders.

Following the ceremony, staff and volunteers will distribute orange T-shirts and provide a free breakfast.

At 11 a.m., the crowd will form a procession and the Oyate Teca riders will lead the group through downtown on horseback.

The powwow’s grand entry begins at 1 p.m. at the convention centre, which Wa-Say has rented to host the day’s ceremonies.

Leaders from Indigenous organizations, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, will attend. Way-Say has invited provincial officials, including Premier Heather Stefanson, to join.

This year, the powwow will honour Raymond Mason (second cousin to Wayne Mason), a prominent Indigenous figure who died on March 20.

Raymond received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University last October for his Indigenous advocacy. He played an integral role in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement and the Federal Indian Day School class action, both of which secured compensation for survivors.

Originally from Peguis First Nation, Raymond was taken from his parents when he was six years old and cycled through residential schools in Birtle, Portage la Prairie and Dauphin, where he suffered physical and sexual abuse.

He began campaigning for settlements in the 1980s and remained a relentless champion of the cause late into his life.

“When I started lobbying just for a handful of people in Manitoba, I didn’t realize the enormousness of the whole issue,” Raymond told the Free Press in a 2015 interview. “A lot of people still don’t believe this could be possible, what we experienced. They still think we’re after free money.”

“The entire family, we are just touched and honoured that they are doing this for my father,” said Kyle Mason, Raymond’s son. “He spent decades being a strong advocate and demanding justice for survivors and often on a volunteer basis.”

He leaves behind a legacy that will continue to heal generations of Indigenous people, Kyle said.

In October 2020, Raymond published his life story, which is now on display at the Manitoba Museum; copies of the book will be on sale during the powwow.

Last year, Wa-Say honoured retired justice Murray Sinclair, former Sagkeeng First Nation chief Theodore Fontaine and Sen. Mary Jane McCallum, a First Nations dentist who dedicated her career to providing dental care in Indigenous communities across Manitoba.

The Manitoba government is treating Sept. 30 as a day to advance truth and reconciliation, but it is not a statutory holiday.

Schools and non-essential government services and offices will close. Flags at all provincial government buildings will be lowered to half-staff.

A government news release says the AMC and Wa-Say were consulted about making Sept. 30 a statutory holiday, but Cora Morgan, AMC’s First Nations family advocate, said the group had not spoken with provincial officials.

“We absolutely want it to be a statutory holiday,” Morgan said.

Regardless of its statutory status, people will gather together on Sept. 30, she said.

“To have a powwow with 10,000 people potentially is the opposite of what we were allowed to do less than 50 years ago,” Morgan said. “Our survivors are still healing… it’s a day for them to heal and reflect, and it is acknowledgment.”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca