Protocol agreement and pipe ceremony highlight National Aboriginal Day in Red Deer

It was described by many as historic as Red Deer city council and the Urban Aboriginal Voices Society signed a protocol agreement Wednesday morning.

In a shift from standard procedure, members of each alternated between reading the clauses of the agreement, something Mayor Tara Veer said was a powerful moment.

“We’re a part of national history,” she said. “What this agreement ultimately indicates is how we will govern in relationship with each other. It’s a good day.”

Elder Lynn Jonasson, president of UAVS, says the agreement is a long time coming.

“We still have a lot of work to do to help our people and children that are in care, that are incarcerated, that are homeless and on the streets. It’s a way to move forward, especially with our friendship centre, the Asooahum project and the vision of the Urban Aborigjnal Voices,” he said.

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Jonasson was joined by fellow UAVS member and former head of the Red Deer Native Friendship Centre, Tanya Schur, who said the most important thing the agreement will do is better the quality of life for Indigenous peoples.

“It’s important when we look at the United Nations [document] of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we see that it’s really clear that Indigenous people are the ones best able to create reconciliation, to move that healing journey forward,” she said. “What we’re seeing marked here is Aboriginal leadership, that this whole work from 2007 forward has really been about the Indigenous people coming together in unity and harmony and working together in a good way.”

Council has two reps on the society, one being Ken Johnson, who said he’s fully embraced the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“We as a city this morning took a tremendous step forward in recognizing the unique needs and cultural identity of our Indigenous peoples. It meant a tremendous amount be able to be a part of that this morning,” he said.

Fellow representative Lynne Mulder added, “This for me is right up there with my highlights from my 13 years on council already. It is a game-changer for us. We have come together in a partnership and with a commitment to each other to make a real difference. Having everybody there this morning I think is so meaningful and it was a great idea to do that publicly. It’s [the agreement] a model.”

Former mayor Morris Flewwelling had a large hand in the creation of the Red Deer Urban Aboriginal Voices Society, from its early days as the Common Ground project.

“During the city’s centennial, we worked with the Indigenous community to develop this stone circle. One of the things I think we always need to remember is with those treaties,” he says, “is we are signing people to those treaties as well. The treaties involved Canadian immigrant people and the Indigenous people.”

Flewwelling also pointed out the poignancy of the post-council pipe ceremony being held at Coronation Park. He explained the park is called what it is in honour of the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II, whose great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria signed treaties six and seven, in 1876 and 1877 respectively.

Leslie Stonechild, also with UAVS leadership, said what was witnessed today was a coming together of two nations and two ways of doing things.

“It’s a really beautiful blessing that we are able to do this because it means that there will be a new relationship now with the City of Red Deer and the UAVS. The protocol agreement brings together our ways of knowing and their ways of knowing,” he said. “For many years, we’ve been divided and haven’t had a common way of working together. It’s historic, it’s a first for me, it’s a beautiful blessing and it’s a way that we’re going to begin moving forward again.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced on Wednesday that moving forward, National Aboriginal Day would be known as National Indigenous Peoples Day.