First Nations expo reaches out to local school children

It's a history lesson told with music, dance and craft making, designed to open young minds and deepen their understandingof Canada's Indigenous heritage.

The First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education CentresCultural Expo 2017 is afive-day showcase taking place this week at Ottawa City Hall.

The FNCCECis a national non-profitorganization whose mandate isto protect, promote and revitalizeancestral languages and culture.

"I want to bring my grandfather's teachings, my grandmother's teachings to whoever will listen," said the president of theFNCCEC,ChiefMorrisSwan-Shannacappo.

The five-day event will include teachingsabout the relationship between Indigenous people and the environment, an evening of homemade bannock and jam, and performances of both ancestral songs and dance in traditional dress.Elders and young Indigenous leaders will also take part in panel discussion to share thoughtsabout reconciliation and hopes for the future.

'Outsiders' a film by Indigenous youth

7 years ago

Duration 2:25

And excerpt from 'Outsiders' a short music film by students from Philemon Wright High School in Gatineau.

On Wednesday,local school children were treated to Indigenous dance performances and throat singing,a canoe-making workshop andmusic videos created by Indigenous youth.

According toSwan-Shannacappo,his organization decided to take part in Canada 150 activities as a means to bring the history of Indigenous people to a wider audience, especially young people.

As a child, he wasn't taught much about his heritage in schoolbeyond demeaning stereotypes, he said, adding he's thrilled by the curiosity and interest Ottawa students have shown on the first day of the expo.

"I was so glad to see them, multicultural children from all walks of life," saidSwan-Shannacappo. "I have some teachers who have invited me to their schools to come to speak, and I said, 'I would love to do that.'"