Thursday, October 12, 2023
Service recognized
Photo submitted
Deputy Chief Aaron Buckingham with the Britannia Fire Department was presented with the Saskatchewan protective service medal for 25 years of service by Chief John Bexson earlier this month. WINDDANCER FROM PAGE 6
Winddancer says each strand represents their own intention or goal and he tells them to weave them together as a commitment that they are going to work towards these goals. “They are able to do home and share the braiding and their parents tell me they can show them they that can do that,” he said. “That gives me a sense of pride. We’re happy they could feel that sense of accomplishment because that’s how I felt when I braided my hair for the first time.” A young student who said his name was Beckett explained the trick to weave a bracelet after
getting some tips from Winddancer. “You have to tie it and stuff,” he explained. He was also spot on about the what the exercise taught him. “I learned it means your hair is important,” he said. Winddancer says when they cut the hair of Indigenous youth who attended residential schools they cut their culture and their language too. “So my way of keeping all that was my hair,” he said. “It really means a lot to see another Indigenous man with long hair too because I can think he’s connected too in some way in his own way.”
MERIDIAN SOURCE
9
