[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto powwow proves popular"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Francine Kopun reports on a powwow held this weekend past at Fort York.

Rain Foots, 18, rode the 509 streetcar across the lakeshore on Saturday to get to the outdoor powwow at Fort York, where he slipped into a self-styled native costume and danced under a blazing sun to applause.

Foots was one of the dancers at Toronto’s annual traditional powwow, a free event which drew thousands by midday to join in recognition of National Aboriginal Day and the summer solstice (June 21).

A student who works part-time, Foots taught himself to dance by attending powwows with his family while growing up in Toronto. “It’s nice to go out and embrace your culture. It feels great to be out here.”

His costume, like the costumes of other dancers at the event, is an amalgam of symbols and colours he has chosen for himself, including green and Celtic symbols to represent his Irish father and the Thunderbird icon signaling his Ojibwe heritage.

“It’s nice to be able to go to a powwow in the city. I feel like a lot of people in Toronto will come here to experience our culture, whereas if it’s held a little farther out, they might not.” said his mother, Kerry Weaver, 37.