Photo from left, Joyce Jonathan Crone, Dallas Boudreau, and Denys Kelly put up a booth at the National Indigenous Peoples Day event at River Mill Park in order to gauge interest in organizing an Indigenous hub.
The ladies were at the National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration put on by the Town of Huntsville at River Mill Park on June 21.
They were looking for input into the possibility of creating an Indigenous friendship group in Huntsville and Bracebridge, which would serve as a subgroup of the Muskoka Indigenous Friendship Centre in Gravenhurst. The Gravenhurst group was founded in 2018 by Theresa Buker, a Métis woman who lives in Gravenhurst.
“Today our biggest purpose is to see what the community wants,” said Denyse Kelly, an Anishinabe/Métis woman. “Are they interested in culture? Do they want more reconciliation? We’re looking at what people want so we can make sure when we build a group we’re building it with our community in mind,” she added.
Everyone would be welcome, both Indigenous people and their allies, noted Kelly.
“We know that we have in the Huntsville, and surrounding communities, Indigenous people – that means First Nations, Métis, or possibly Inuit – living in the area. We know that there are more in the Gravenhurst area, and they’re trying to start a Bracebridge hub as well,” explained Joyce Jonathan Crone, who is Mohawk from the Turtle Clan and Haudenosaunee from Six Nations.
She said what quite often happens with Indigenous people “is we go into the weeds, that means we sit back until we feel safe, and because of everything that’s happened with the government and in the past… residential schools, sixties-scoop, the whole bit, we tend to wait and watch and not come out until we feel it’s secure,” she said.
“So what we’re trying to do is to create a Huntsville hub, a place where First Nations, Métis, or Inuit can feel secure and feel safe. Where we could begin a healing process together because Indigenous people are all about community, and also we’d like to welcome allies… Initially, we’d want Indigenous [people]to be the organizers of it, and then we’d love to call in our allies for support, and we do have a strong allyship here in Huntsville in terms of education, in terms of community, the Huntsville Library…so there’s a lot of support that we can get once we get the engine going and we birth the hub,” she said
Kelly explained that her children have lost out on a lot of their Indigenous culture because it is difficult to go to larger centres to seek connection with their roots. She’s hoping that organizing a group in Huntsville will give them that ability.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news
Lynn Bennett says
Gchi Miigwech, I appreciate your hard work to make this very special day a real success! Looking forward to next year!