The Woodland Cree Gathering is an annual event hosted in rotation between the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, Lac La Ronge Indian Band and Montreal Lake Cree Nation. It’s happening this week on the Chief Joseph Custer urban reserve in Prince Albert.

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner team was pleased to be able to attend events starting on Tuesday, the day for honouring Indian Residential School Survivors.

Our team was there to share information about the work of the OTC, the services of the speakers bureau and library and archives team, and opportunities to learn through our Treaty education department. We handed out information and answered questions.

We also got to see and participate in actives like hide scraping, smoothing meat and fish, preparing traditional meals like moose meat and stews.

“My favourite part was hearing elders speak during our interviews, but also hearing the speakers Tuesday who honoured NAIG athletes, as well as Chief Tammy Cook Searson’s speech about honouring the residential school survivors and the effects of the Indian residential school system,” said Eli Worme, a member of the OTC team at the event.

This gathering provided the opportunity for our researches to conduct interviews with Elders. They share stories that we are able to add to our archives as part of the oral histories of the Treaty territories.

 

Hear more through local media coverage:
Prince Albert Daily Herald: Woodland Cree gathering allows residential school survivors to foster healing by sharing stories

MBC Radio News: LLRIB Tammy Cook-Searson at the Woodland Cree Gathering in conversation with Jude Ratt, host of Achimowin