Teepees go up in Kin Park for National Aboriginal Day

By Mo Cranker on June 23, 2018.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

Kin Park had eight new structures added to it Thursday in honour of National Aboriginal Day.

“It’s about bringing awareness,” said Saamis Aboriginal Employment and Training Association executive director Anita Neefs. “National Aboriginal Day took place (Thursday) and we put the teepees up to celebrate it and bring it to the community.”

Neefs says celebrating National Aboriginal Day is very important.

“This is something that is recognized every year in Canada,” she said. “It’s important locally and nationally to recognize the aboriginal populations and the unique culture.

“These are Canada’s original people.”

The group purchased the teepees more than 20 years ago, and uses them to celebrate different events throughout the year.

“They all have different designs on them, and they’re all unique,” said Neefs. “They were originally created for the Saamis Teepee Association, but that disbanded years ago.

“We wanted to save these teepees and use them for things like National Aboriginal Day.”

The teepees will stay standing until Monday or Tuesday, and Neefs says there’s some interesting history behind each one.

“There’s two Blackfoot teepees, one Sioux teepees and the rest are Cree,” she said. “There’s differences in the way each of them are designed, and that’s something quite unique in our display that people can look for.”

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