Graduation powwow marks the start of a new chapter for Indigenous students at U of W

CBC News

· Posted: May 04, 2025 6:11 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Countless hours of studying implicit the past 4 years filled the way to an honours biology grade for Gracie Grift.

But the present University of Winnipeg alumni says her effort wasn't the lone constituent progressive successful her world success. Standing down her passim her career was the Manitoba Métis Nation.

"So overmuch of my clip astatine the assemblage has been moving for my community, moving with my community, learning with my community," Grift, who was portion of the Indigenous Student Association and the Indigenous Student Service Centre, said. 

She is 1 39 Indigenous graduates who were honoured for their achievements astatine the 20th yearly graduation powwow  connected Sunday.

"It's truly a clip wherever we tin travel [to] convey our ancestors for their spot and resilience and for watching down connected us," Grift said.

The ceremonial is simply a testament to the resilience of those who came earlier her and fought for Indigenous radical to reclaim their spot successful the acquisition system, she said, allowing students similar her to support their degrees without losing presumption and celebrating their traditions passim their acquisition journey. 

"That's truthful incredibly special," Grift said. 

An 'important' measurement successful reconciliation: elder

Sunday's graduation powwow, attended by hundreds including dancers and drummers from antithetic property groups wearing regalia, ribbon skirts and caput pieces, opened up with a supplication led by Elder Dan Thomas.

"When we bash this for our young people, we don't lone honour them personally, but we honour the nations that they travel from … that's an important portion of reconciliation," Thomas said. 

It is simply a stark opposition to the acquisition strategy helium grew up successful — 1 that frowned upon his individuality and forbade his traditions. Now, decades later, helium tin clasp a tube and h2o ceremonial to unfastened Sunday's graduation and beryllium a portion of a powwow to honour students connected the time they statesman a caller section successful their lives. 

"We tin bash this not lone here, but successful school[s] … my grandchildren person a large accidental that we didn't have," Thomas said. 

He has mislaid number connected the fig of  graduation powwows helium has been portion of, but thing that stuck with him over time is the increasing fig of Indigenous radical graduating post-secondary school, which helium hopes successful crook volition rise the modular of surviving for radical crossed antithetic communities. 

"I honour them contiguous for everything they person accomplished," Thomas said.

Em Penner, who graduated this outpouring with a bachelor of arts grade successful rhetoric and communications, said it is particularly important to marque abstraction for powwows successful the acquisition strategy aft Canada's residential schoolhouse strategy stripped distant Indigenous culture.

"Being capable to beryllium successful [this] space, wearing our accepted regalia, doing our accepted ceremonies successful an acquisition institution, that's truly really powerful," they said. 

A student-led movement

The graduation powwow was archetypal organized by students successful Winnipeg two decades ago, and for galore years it was tally successful conjunction with graduates from the University of Manitoba, said Grace Redhead, the manager of Indigenous assemblage relations astatine University of Winnipeg. 

"This shows the question from a student-led lawsuit to present being supported by the elder medication and the assemblage itself," she said. 

While it is an accidental to observe Indigenous students, the powwow is besides accidental to commemorate the assemblage that supported them passim their acquisition journey, Redhead said. 

For the 20th day of the graduation ceremonial each pupil received a blanket. 

With each of them, graduates "are wrapped in the stars and the cognition from our ancestors, and it's truthful important," said Andrea Redsky, a subordinate of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation successful Ontario who did a h2o ceremonial earlier the commencement of the graduation powwow. 

Redsky went to the University of Winnipeg earlier finishing her grade astatine the University of Manitoba, and akin to elder Thomas she didn't turn up with accepted ceremonies astatine her home, fto unsocial larn astir them in school, 50 years ago. 

"Ceremonies were decidedly coming back, but it took specified a agelong clip for these to beryllium done retired successful public," she said. "We conscionable learned existent antagonistic things astir ourselves ... so it's truly bully for radical to spot each of these affirmative things and dependable these drums arsenic a heartbeat."