Tag Archives: Aboriginal

Pelican Project Salute

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth, Poems about Poetry, Relationships / tagged , , , , / / by

In July 2000 New Dance Horizons in Regina Saskatchewan put together a presentation for “Dance and the Child International”.  It consisted of dance, song and poetry performed by about thirty young people many from Canada’s First Nations. I had the privilege of coaching and guiding them as they wrote their own poems.

This is the story of the teachers and young people involved.

You are the pelican warriors You are the pelicans who do not run away you are the pelicans that stay and fight you are the pelicans that defend your nests you are the pelicans that defend your tribe You are the pelicans who fly from your homes to find a new lake You are the pelicans brave enough to fly near people (it can be dangerous to fly near people) You are the pelicans brave enough to fly through your fears You are the pelicans who know some people are your friends who know some people need your gifts You are the pelicans who teach pelicans and people how to care for their young how to live for their tribe How to fly and dance and swim and fish together again I dip my ink tipped wing in praise of you

Qu’Appelle and ESL

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Remembering / tagged , , , , , , , / / by

This poem references the experience of First Nations children who were systematically stripped of their culture and language in Canada’s residential schools. Today is set aside in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation and marked by the wearing of orange shirts in memory of one young girl’s experience.

https://www.orangeshirtday.org/phyllis-story.html

https://www.techlifetoday.ca/articles/2020/why-we-wear-orange-on-orange-shirt-day-nait