Residents and out-of-town visitors alike attended the Woodland Cultural Centre’s National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on Saturday, June 21, 2025.
Heather George, Executive Director of the Woodland Cultural Centre, said she was happy to see the community come together to celebrate the day.
“It’s been so fantastic to see the turnout and to see so many community members from Six Nations and Brantford coming out, meeting each other in this space and getting to share in our culture,” she said. “Our most favourite thing to do here at Woodland is to bring people together and do it in these really beautiful ways, so it’s just been an amazing day.”
Throughout the duration of the free event, guests of all ages had the opportunity to enjoy several musical performances from artists like David Moses, James Wilson and DJ MossKing, as well as a children’s storytelling session with Arihhonni David.
Over in the craft tent, Woodland’s education department set up various creative workshops where visitors like Julien Greene and Callum Clarke, could try their hand at painting with watercolour, or crafting their own pottery, drums and rattles.
Many guests also took the opportunity to head over to an open field to partake in a lacrosse demonstration with Kedoh Hill, or shop from the many vendor booths set up around the grounds.
From hand-beaded jewellery to captivating pieces of art, ribbon skirts and even mouth-watering foods and drinks, there were plenty of ways to support the artists and small business owners on site.
“I think today is a really good opportunity, especially for non-Indigenous people to learn about the culture and the heritage. It’s fantastic because, often the programming that happens on National Indigenous Peoples Day kind of surrounds the art space and so, it’s a lot of fun, it’s really inclusive and everybody gets a chance to participate,” said George. “I think it’s also a really good entry point for people who are trying to learn more about things like treaties or land rights, but this is kind of the fun, soft entrance into some of those harder topics. It’s just such a great day for people to engage in this programming, and to continue to build those opportunities for people to learn.”
On top of all of the activities happening outdoors, visitors also had the chance to step inside for a gallery tour with Woodland’s guest Curator, Alex Jacobs-Blum, for the public opening of Indigenous Art 2025: 50th Annual Juried Exhibition.
Indigenous Art was first launched back in 1975 and is now the longest-running annual multimedia Indigenous art exhibition in the country. This year’s show is featured across all three of Woodland’s gallery spaces and will run until Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
Harmony Sabourin and Daylen Hill were just a couple of the guests viewing the gallery’s new display.
“It’s all just so beautiful,” said Sabourin. “I really love art and so, it’s been really inspiring to see all of these works, especially the beadwork on canvas… it’s just so amazing to me.”
The two were more than happy to share a few of the pieces that caught their attention including Jessica Somers’ “Morning Dance,” Janice Toulouse’s “Abiinoojiiyag Jiibi Native Children’s Hidden Bones” and Emily Kewageshig’s “Walk Gently.”
For those who couldn’t make it out on the day, George said that she encouraged people to stop by Woodland and check out the gallery, especially now that the centre’s new hours are Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
