Thank you.
We have to remember that the demographics of indigenous women coming into large urban centres have changed, particularly over the past decade. Indigenous women are coming from across the country to live in urban centres like Calgary. They often find themselves quite isolated. There is a need to connect with a cultural community. There's a need to connect to people who look like them, speak the same language and share in the ceremony, the food and the family kinships they have within their communities. There is a need for that connection and to build community and cultural events around those factors while feeling like you belong. It's belonging without judgment and without racism with individuals who have a shared history and who accept you as you are with that shared history.
This is what indigenous women are telling us. Whether it's a group of women coming together to sing drum songs or do some beadwork, or whether it's a collective kitchen and we decide we're going to make bannock tacos for supper, that is building that community. It's about that connection.
The humour is something else. Laughing with your friends is important.
Thank you.