Gathering for Action | First People's Conservation Council

Gatherings—reinvigoration of cultural ways
Every year FPCC member Tribes participate in as many Tribal gatherings and workshops as possible. The gatherings are to reinvigorate culture, to foster closer relationships between the Tribes and to plan projects focused on restoration and support of life ways. We always include our elders and our youth, oldest to youngest, we celebrate coming together in our own community events, and as a visiting Tribe at events hosted by other Tribes. Fellowship is so important, but most important is that we come together in solidarity as ‘Tribal People’. We live in a world that, more often than not, view our Tribal lifeways as obsolete and best left behind in the ‘great melting pot of assimilation. Our youths are being educated in institutions where the history of ‘The People’, is written to favor the writers and a Colonial perspective. We come together in celebration of our culture and heritage, not to separate ourselves from the other peoples of the world but to hold on to a lifeway, where reverence for creation is sacred. We come together to teach and remember…life is precious. To remind ourselves, that listening is more important than speaking. We gather as First Peoples, to say, in spite of all, we are still here! Our songs, dances, our art…the beauty of the stories of our grandmothers and grandfathers are still here with us, helping us to live today…and as a legacy, we pass them on to the next generation, ensuring that the “People” will live forever, past, present, and future, like life’s circle, forever connected.

**The FPCC supports the Moose Hide Campaign by using their products for our gatherings, making drums, moccasins, and other traditional items. The Moose Hide Campaign is a grassroots movement of indigenous men and boys who are standing up against violence towards women and children. Facebook: moosehidecampaign.ca