The Culture Alliance in the Heart of Georgian Bay would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate National Ribbon Skirt Day, today, January 4th.
It is a day where Indigenous women across the country are encouraged to wear traditional regalia to celebrate their culture, their strength, and their connections as women, to the Creator. Bill S-219 was introduced in March 2021 by Senator Mary Jane McCallum because of the story of a young girl in Saskatchewan being shamed for wearing her ribbon skirt to school one day. With the strong support of family and friends in the community of Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan, young 10-year-old Isabella Kulak inspired all to stand up and be proud to wear our regalia with confidence, without shame for being Indigenous women.
It is another important response by government to the Calls for Justice of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls to set forth such meaningful Acts that appreciate the diverse culture of Canada, and understand that Indigenous women are life-givers and are entrusted with traditional knowledge to care for their families, their communities, and the environment. It is acknowledged that the ribbon skirt is a centuries-old spiritual symbol of womanhood, identity, adaptation, and survival, and is a way for women to honour themselves and their culture, and that the skirt represents a direct connection to Mother Earth and its sacred medicines. Indigenous culture, tradition, and ceremony, including Indigenous ties to language and the land, are critical to the vitality and well-being of Canada’s First Peoples (see Bill S-219 An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day ).
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