(Photo credit: Adam Berls/CKPGtoday.ca)

By Adam Berls

national indigenous peoples day

‘A day of celebration’: National Indigenous Peoples Day kicks off with 3-day event

Jun 21, 2023 | 3:02 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — June 21st is National Indigenous Peoples Day and it is a day to recognize and celebrate the culture, history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Metis across Canada. The day was announced in 1996 by then Governor General Romeo LeBlanc. In Prince George, a massive 3-day event is taking place to celebrate. Chief Dolleen Logan of the Lheidli T’enneh told us what National Indigenous Peoples Day means to her.

“It’s a day of celebration. This is a time when all the nations would get together and celebrate the first day of summer and see just the time to get together after a long winter. Get together, get ready for the summer.” – Chief Dolleen Logan, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation

Currently, National Indigenous Peoples Day is not considered a statutory holiday across Canada and is only recognized as a statutory territorial holiday in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. However, Chief Logan hopes that might change.

“I hope. I really do believe that it should be a national holiday. We’ve been, First Nations have been in their territories, us in particular for over 9000 years. Canada has been around for 150 plus. I think we should get recognition for a day. A day. It’s not a day off. It’s a day to celebrate.” – Chief Dolleen Logan, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation

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Meeka Morgan is the artistic director for Two Rivers Remix, who is helping organize the event and tells us more about what Two Rivers Remix is.

“Our hometown of Lytton burned to the ground, which propelled us to create what’s called the Moveable Feast. And so we go to different indigenous territories and communities and create these micro festivals leading to our main festival, Two Rivers remix. So this year, one of our collaborations was with the Lately City, but also the Northern Indigenous Arts Council, and we’ve been wanting to come up to this territory for quite some time.” – Meeka Morgan, Artistic Director, Two Rivers Remix

The celebration continues through to Friday, and all are welcome to head on down to Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park until 8pm today to gather, learn, and celebrate. The second day of festivities begins tomorrow at 11am in Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.