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Annual Maskwacis pow wow honours missing and murdered Indigenous women

The theme for the 2019 Ermineskin Cree National Traditional Pow Wow held June 5 to 7 at Maskwacis Bear Park was “Honouring our grandmothers and mothers.”
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Dancers in the grand entry on Friday, July 5 started off the weekend long pow wow. Photos by Emily Jaycox

The theme for the 2019 Ermineskin Cree National Traditional Pow Wow held June 5 to 7 at Maskwacis Bear Park was “Honouring our grandmothers and mothers.”

The grand entry on Sunday afternoon, July 7, was dedicated to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Female dancers were the first to lead in this grand entry to honour grandmothers and mothers.

Every year, hundreds of dancers from all over North America come out to this pow wow. Four grand entries feature drumming, dancing, and singing.

dancers compete in categories such as men’s and women’s traditional, men’s chicken and women’s jingle dancing, and over 50 and special teen and junior categories.

There were special giveaways and initiations every night, as well as food, arts and crafts vendors on site.

The pow wow was moved indoors to the Panee Agriplex on Sunday, June 7, due to the weather.

The rain was so heavy over the weekend that is caused some flooding in town site area basement homes. The flooding is being addressed by the Ermineskin Property Management and Infrastructure department.

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Emily Jaycox

About the Author: Emily Jaycox

I’m Emily Jaycox, the editor of Ponoka News and the Bashaw Star. I’ve lived in Ponoka since 2015 and have over seven years of experience working as a journalist in central Alberta communities.
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