National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated with traditional games, food by YKDFN

Spotty showers on Saturday failed to dampen the spirits at National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in the Yellowknife area.

Timed to begin after the North Slave Métis Alliance’s annual fish fry at Somba K’e Civic Plaza downtown, Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) welcomed visitors to the Wıìlıìdeh Site just outside the city, for an afternoon and evening of recreation, eating and socializing.

From 3pm to 10pm, hundreds of people filtered in and out of historically significant area for the YKDFN, located among the trees on the shores of the Yellowknife River.

Under the cover of canopy tents, folks could find food vendors, arts and crafts for sale, a sewing tent, a large fish fry and a language tent.

As CKLB’s stated mission is to help preserve and promote Indigenous languages and culture, the language tent was of definite interest.

Inside were a few Elders listening to visitors testing their skills speaking Wiìliìdeh Yatii, a dialect of the Tłı̨chǫ language with Chipewyan influence spoken by the YKDFN people in and around Dettah, Ndilǫ and Yellowknife.

Thamsanqa Ncube, speaks in Xhosa, a Bantu language spoken in South Africa, where it’s one of the official languages. He discovered a number of similarities and quirks between his ‘clicky’ mother tongue and the Wiìliìdeh Yatii being spoken in the tent.

“We have clicks, yeah, but for me, it’s more than the ‘click’ sound,” he said, mentioning a Dene ceremony as another cultural similarity.

“So, I was very fascinated by the feeding the fire ceremony earlier on, because it’s exactly what my people do — amazing,” he said. “And also the elders, the (Dene) put the elders into sort of really high profile. So, I wouldn’t do anything without talking to my grandmother, for example.”

Also at the site was Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon, who lives in Ndilǫ.

He said June 21st can be one way for different cultures to come together and start healing from past wrongs.

“We have all kinds of cultures here in Canada, but this is our day — this is our day to let people know who we are as Dene people — this is our culture, this is our language, this is who we are as Dene people,” he said, noting Indigenous Day events are growing in popularity.

“It’s getting bigger every year … it’s good to see everybody coming out to celebrate with us, knowing that this day is about Indigenous people in Canada.”