Clairice Tuckanow, a Métis-Cree woman from Okanese First Nation, works with around three dozen young people, helping them make ribbon skirts inside Regina’s mâmawêyatitân centre. Tuckanow is passionate about exploring her culture and heritage and focuses on empowering youth from diverse backgrounds across Turtle Island. She is a coordinator with the Regina non-profit Growing Young Movers, which looks to mentor youth living on the margins, helping them discover and develop their talents through various initiatives and programming.
The non-profit was recently approved for a grant to help set up a ribbon skirt regalia library in the community centre. Once the ribbon skirt regalia library is open to the public, people can borrow ribbon skirts and shirts for ceremonies and other events.
January 4th marked National Ribbon Skirt Day, a day was first celebrated in 2023 and is a reminder of the experience of an Indigenous girl in Saskatchewan, Isabella Kulak, who was shamed for wearing a ribbon skirt to a “formal dress day” at her elementary school. Tuckanow wore a ribbon skirt to ceremonies growing up, which represents the power of womanhood.
According to Tuckanow, the absence of ribbon skirt traditions among urban Indigenous youth represents the loss of important cultural practices. With challenges like cost and accessibility, she took action to make ribbon skirts available to young people. She sourced ribbon skirt kits from Edmonton and borrowed sewing machines from the centre’s library. Tuckanow also enlisted an Indigenous advocate to teach the group of 20 how to create the ribbon skirts. The participants have grown while learning and supporting each other throughout the process.
During the first class, Tuckanow had an emotional moment as she watched the youth sewing, reflecting on how it fulfilled the dreams of their grandmothers. She was moved to see the girls proudly wearing their skirts at the annual fall feast. Moving forward, Tuckanow aims to work with elders and knowledge keepers to create more skirts for the library while building up stock and securing storage space. Tuckanow also hopes to include ribbon shirts for boys in the future.
Source: Lethbridge News Now