Powwow Power – Montreal’s urban event finds its feet

“There’s people here from all over the world,” marvelled Pow Wow Montreal organizer Al Harrington, an Anishinaabe from Ontario who now lives in Kanesatake. “I’ve talked to people from Finland, Germany, Austria, France – even Indians from India!”

Montreal’s third urban powwow was a true gathering of Nations. Up to 150 dancers and drummers, joined by 47 vendors, welcomed thousands of visitors to the Vanier College campus May 7-8. As founder of the Red Urban Project, an education initiative to teach Indigenous and non-Indigenous people about Aboriginal culture and history, Harrington explained that there has long been a thirst for a powwow in the city. It’s an opportunity for Indigenous people to meet and introduce their songs, stories, regalia and dances to others.

“To me, we should be able to share our First Nations culture through education,” said Harrington. “I believe we should all be coming together and working together.”

Last year’s Pow Wow Montreal, on the grounds of the Beurling Academy in the neighbourhood of Verdun, attracted 60 dancers and drummers and an audience of about 1500. That led to a conversation between the Red Urban Project and Vanier College’s Indigenous Circle. Harrington was at the college last year to mount a powwow demonstration for the students, and was already thinking of organizing another event when the Indigenous Circle members told them they’d like to host a powwow on campus.

“I said, ‘Would you be willing to do a whole-day powwow?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ So I said, ‘What about a weekend?’ They said, ‘Absolutely!’ And they pushed it.”

The powwow emcee was Gabe Whiteduck, from the Algonquin Nation of Kitigan-Zibi – a figure familiar to many in Eeyou Istchee from his lessons in dancing, drumming and singing across many communities. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Geoff Kelley was in attendance for the Grand Entry, along with Alan DeSousa, Mayor of the Montreal borough of Ville Saint-Laurent (where Vanier College is located), and Sterling Downey, borough councillor for Verdun – a neighbourhood that is home to much of the city’s Indigenous population. Cast members from the popular TV program Mohawk Girls were on hand, and there were raffles for several items, including a pair of sealskin gloves and a carved moose-antler.

Among the drummers were the Buffalo Hat Singers. Algonquin drummer Fred Cheezo’s roots are in the Lac-Simon Reserve, but growing up, he was playing drums with heavy metal and punk bands long before he became a powwow singer.

“I grew up in Sherbrooke, and there were no powwows,” said Cheezo. “The first time I realized I didn’t know powwow music, I checked it out on websites. First, I was singing at the Native Friendship Centre, for a couple of months. One day, a friend of mine heard me singing at the centre and asked me, ‘You want to play with us?’ I wasn’t sure. I just started singing less than a year [before]. The first time I really started singing with the Buffalo Hat Singers, four years ago, was maybe a week after my audition!”

Cheezo has watched the Montreal powwow bloom since the first installment two years back, and said he’s happy to see many familiar faces from past events.

“It’s amazing – I was surprised by the spirit of open-mindedness,” he said. “If you want to know powwow, you have to go on the powwow ground. And that’s what they’re doing. They have powwows in Val-d’Or and other places. But having a powwow in Montreal, to me, that’s the best way to show people we’re still there. It’s a good gathering and a good excuse to heal.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s instalment almost didn’t happen, and Harrington grew briefly dewy-eyed recalling the obstacles he faced.

“Funding issues, we always get them,” he said. “A lot of the funding we went for was turned down – and we had no money. We needed to rethink it. Vanier was trying to do as much as they could on their side to help us get things going, but they could only do so much. I went to a lot of organizations, and a lot of people said they couldn’t help out this year. Government funding is really lacking.”

He expressed boundless gratitude to the event’s major sponsors, which included the Nation’s sister companies Beesum Communications, Rezolution Pictures and Minority Media.

Dressed in his powwow regalia, Cheezo was happy to report that he’d been receiving good news about the future.

“We had some delegates today who came and informed me that, next year, they’re going to support the powwow 100% for a two-day event,” he said, laughing off his tears. “These are happy tears! It’s an emotional day for me today.”