Group gathers near Louisbourg for Mi'kmaw sunrise ceremony on Indigenous Peoples Day

About 20 people gathered in a circle at dawn Friday for a Mi'kmaw sunrise ceremony near Louisbourg, N.S., in recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The Mi'kmaw consider the ceremony a sacred way to connect with their ancestors and the Earth.

Eskasoni elder Mike Doucette said the ceremony was open to all as a way to help people learn about the Mi'kmaw culture.

"It's to acknowledge that we still care about the land and the environment here and it's to bring understanding to our people and whoever attends on what we are as First Nations people," he said. "When we come together in prayer, it's a very beautiful experience, the things that we talk about and the stories that we share, our life experiences."

Doucette said inviting the public creates the opportunity for one step toward reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous people, but the ceremony is also aimed at drawing in Mi'kmaw youth, many of whom are not familiar with their own culture and traditions.

"They just find it too difficult to go travelling around, or coming into the ceremonies and they find it too hot, too hard or too long, or whatever," he said.

"But it's beautiful once you sit through it and go through it and experience it."

During the ceremony, people stood around a fire while Doucette led the group through a condensed history of the Mi'kmaq and their connection with the environment.

He also shared some of his difficult personal past, surviving abuse and several bouts of cancer, which he said was only possible through the use of traditional medicines.

Despite the difficulties Indigenous people have encountered through colonialism, sharing is at the heart of the sunrise ceremony, he said.

"It's about creating that unity and expressing that love, unconditional love. It's not just the love for our family and our children, it's for everybody, the whole humanity, the whole nine yards," Doucette said.

The event was hosted by the Eskasoni Teachers' Union and the Public Service Alliance of Canada and was accompanied by two members of the Allison Bernard Memorial High School Women's Drum Group.

In a news release, the teachers' union said Louisbourg was chosen because of the historical connection between the Mi'kmaq and early French settlers and because the coast faces the sunrise in the east, which is appropriate for First Nations who also call themselves the People of the Dawn.

One of the drummers, Mia Gould, said she was happy to be involved in the ceremony.

"It means a lot to me, because I want to be more connected to my culture and my tradition," she said.

Adora Johnson said that was a big part of her interest in drumming.

"I love going to ceremonies," she said. "I love drumming in front of people and I found my voice through it, so I use it every single time."

Drumming is traditionally done by men, which Johnson said can make it challenging to find a teacher.

"We're kind of outnumbered when we go to events, because there's like three groups of guy groups and then there's us," she said.

"It's really hard, but ... it's such an amazing feeling to all be together and singing, because they become your family, your second family later on when you're all singing together and it's a beautiful experience and I love it."

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