First Nations elementary school students from across the province gathered in Saskatoon today for a celebration of language and culture.
Nearly 400 First Nation students from Grades 1 to 5 gathered at E.D. Feehan High School to partake in an event called Honouring Our Youth: love your language, speak with pride an indigenous language festival.
The event is put on by both school divisions in Saskatoon as well as the Saskatoon Tribal Council.
The three organizations have been hosting the festival for four years.
Tribal Chief Felix Thomas says he hopes the students will find a new love and respect for their traditional language through the festival.
“I think there is a sense of pride when they know they can speak the language and that is the only way we are going to sustain our language and culture,” says Chief Thomas.
The hope of organizers is that the students will grow a strong identity learning their Cree, Michif, Dene and Dakota culture.
The schedule is full of different workshops covering a wide range of topics including songs, teaching through stories and First Nations worldview.
Several of the students have come in from nearly three hours away to partake in the one day festival.