Sky shot of the Onion Lake Powwow (Facebook/Alton Whitefish)

By Elliott Knopp

Onion Lake Powwow

Onion Lake powwow draws immense crowd in first post-pandemic Indigenous cultural gathering

Jul 21, 2021 | 5:09 PM

Healing and unity were key themes at the Onion Lake Powwow that took place over the weekend.

Thousands of people from all across the continent came together to honour the lives of many Indigenous children who fell victim to the residential school system and begin healing as a community. The event signified the first of its kind since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down many aspects of daily life.

The cultural affair drew an immense crowd and flooded social media with videos and live streams by many notable Indigenous content creators across several platforms, including TikTok and Facebook.

Kesha Tipewan, one of the Indigenous content creators in attendance, shared that this event was one of the first she had attended since she was much younger. She said having the large number of those in attendance at the event made a significant impact on her experience.

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“It was such a crazy feeling, because there were so many people there. We went from being isolated from everyone, to being exposed to thousands of people,” Tipewan shared.

“To see all the dancers was such a great, amazing feeling. Seeing everyone smiling and listening to the drum was such a powerful healing feeling as well, but it was also very crowded. We couldn’t find any place to sit. We could barely even stand by the arbor so we had to make rounds around the arbor.”

A video posted to Facebook by Alton Whitefish shows an overhead view of the venue. Viewers can easily see the substantial amount of visitors, guests and all of their vehicles.

Onion Lake director of operations Philip Chief mentioned the arbor at which the event was held had recently undergone a renovation that included an expansion to accommodate larger gatherings, but the development clearly was not equipped to handle the influx of people wanting to attend this powwow.

He also noted people had arrived several days ahead of the event and camped out in the days leading up to its opening.

“We anticipated a big crowd, but we did not anticipate the crowd that we received, and even the level of dancers. We had over 1000 dancers registered, not including local dancers. On top of that, we had a hand game event that coincides with the powwow, and that had over 120 teams participating at 5 players per team,” Chief said.

The powwow comes at a time when many Indigenous communities across Canada are conducting underground searches of former residential school sites to recover the bodies of those who lost their lives in the system.

Onion Lake Cree Nation is preparing for a sonar search of its own within the community as three sites were designated as potential burial grounds associated with residential schools. Chief stated that having that in mind makes the healing aspect of this powwow such a major component of the event.

“That’s what’s important. Having people come and enjoy. Whether you participate in powwows or not, you would have felt the energy within the grounds, and how positive and powerful our culture is. Hearing the drums, the bells and the jingles from the shells, it was an experience that I think can’t really be described. It’s something that you need to feel, and I think that this was a remembrance powwow in honor of those that never made it home from Indian residential schools.”

While many people left the event safely and presumably satisfied with their experience, Chief stated it is highly unlikely events of this size will occur in the future.

“I think this is a one-time thing because of COVID. Normally, this time of the year, you’d have several powwows to go to. This being the only power in North America at the time, we had people from as far south as New Mexico, as far east as Quebec and as far west as B.C. We had people from the Northwest Territories, it was from every province. It was something that I think we’ll definitely remember and cherish, but I don’t think we’ll ever get to that point again.”

Additional powwows at Waterhen Lake First Nation and Flying Dust First nation are set to take place later this year.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp