Day 1 Session (June 30, 2006)
- Posted by: erwin
- On: 06/30/2006 11:59:55
- In: Uncategorised
Celebrating Historical Significance and Cultural Uniqueness: The Calgary Stampede and Treaty 7 First Nations
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Albertans did their homework: Festival organizer praises our showing in D.C.
Todd Babiak, The Edmonton Journal (published Saturday, July 01, 2006)
"But only a couple of hours after the festival opened, Kurin could see it would be a success. Art and culture was a given, but even more experimental aspects like the SuperNet video-conferencing demonstration worked."
"I watched African-American kids from Washington, D.C., talking to students from Alberta," Kurin said, with a smile. "Kids they don't even imagine exist. All of this, it makes connections that no book or movie or brochure ever could. That's what all this is about."
The relationship between Treaty 7 First Nations and the Calgary Stampede is a unique and important relationship that has helped preserve and foster First Nations cultural traditions. In an effort to understand this historical relationship, Grade 4 students of the Piitoayis Family School, along with their friends at Prince of Wales School, spent months exploring the culture of the Treaty 7 First Nations as featured at the Stampede's Indian Village. The historical research took the form of group on- site visits to the Calgary Stampede School to look at artifacts, experience traditions, and video record elders.
In this video-conferencing session, Piitoayis Family School (Calgary Board of Education), in partnership with Galileo Educational Network, joined approximately 70 children from the Boys and Girls Club of Washington D.C. to share their stories.
Tracey Read, the Manager responsible for the activities of Stampede School at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, joined Karen on stage.
Students from the Piitoayis Family School talked about the Indian Village and the many cultural practices that are celebrated there, including traditional teepee raising and preparing bannock. They taught the audience in Washington how to say "hello" in Blackfoot, which translates to "Oki". Live Native dancing and drumming were also showcased.
Children in the Washington audience were very eager to ask questions about the Indian Village and about Alberta in general. Questions included "What is your state animal?" "What kind of food do you like to eat?", "What did you do on your last day of school?" and "What colour is your flag?"
