Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 6, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba SE T T E R S T CARON AVE L O N S D A L E D R H A L L O N Q U I S T D R B O O T H D R S T U R G E O N R O A D S T U R G E O N R O A D GRACE HOSPITAL SC II P O R T A G E A V E N U E SC I Sturgeon Creek I Sturgeon Creek II Beautiful 1 Bedroom Suite Call Santana at 204.202.1870 NOW AVAILABLE Call Today! 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The Métis-Cree woman from Okanese First Nation says it’s usual- ly one of the three dozen young people she’s been working with to make their own ribbon skirts. “They’re like, ‘Can we just come and make a ribbon skirt?’” said Tuckanow. “It’s beautiful to see that.” Tuckanow is a co-ordinator with the Regina non-profit Growing Young Movers, which looks to men- tor youth living on the margins. It was recently approved for a grant to help set the wheels in motion for a ribbon skirt regalia library in the community centre. Once it’s up and running, Tucka- now said, youth will be able to bor- row ribbon skirts and ribbon shirts for ceremonies or other events. The idea started when Tuckanow began reflecting on her culture and how she was surrounded by cere- monial practices growing up. She wore a ribbon skirt to ceremonies, symbolizing the power of woman- hood. “When you put on a skirt, you’re reclaiming that,” she said. “I have a skirt that I only wear when I’m going to funerals or wakes, I have skirts that are pink and yellow and vibrant, and I’ll wear them out, even if I’m going grocery shopping, because it feels beautiful to put on a ribbon skirt.” Saturday marked National Ribbon Skirt Day, established in 2023 after a 10-year-old girl was shamed for wearing a ribbon skirt to a formal day at school in southern Saskatch- ewan. Tuckanow said she noticed the ribbon skirt tradition was missing among urban Indigenous youth at the Regina centre. “Because of history, a lot of In- digenous folks are displaced from their communities outside of urban centres. And you lose those really important cultural and significant protocol pieces, such as wearing rib- bon skirts,” she said. The garments are also hard to come by and can be expensive. So Tuckanow decided to take matters into her own hands: the centre would make ribbon skirts available to young people and two-spirit folks. Before long, she had sourced some ribbon skirt kits from Edmonton and borrowed sewing machines from the centre’s actual library. She also asked an Indigenous advocate to teach youth how to make them. There was a lot of trial and er- ror, said Tuckanow, but those in the group of 20 helped each other out. During that first class, she said, one moment hit close to home. “I was just sitting there just watch- ing them. And I was feeling emotion- al, because this is what our grand- mothers wanted for us,” she said. “The next week, we had our annual fall feast, and I was blown away by all of these girls coming in, sitting down with their skirts. It was just such a beautiful feeling.” The goal now is for the group to work with elders and knowledge keepers in the evenings to make more skirts that can be added to the library. For now, it’s about building up stock and finding a space to store all the skirts. Tuckanow said she hopes to in- clude ribbon shirts for boys, too. Anyone, including non-Indigenous people, can wear ribbon skirts, she added — as long as their intentions are good. “I really like this idea that as In- digenous people, we’re not going to be contributing to that intergenera- tional trauma,” Tuckanow said. “It’s creating this intergeneration- al love through teaching, through being there and having accessible cultural wear.” — The Canadian Press CLAIRE TUCKANOW / THE CANADIAN PRESS Indigenous youth pose wearing the ribbon skirts they made with Growing Youth Movers at the mâmawêyatitân centre in Regina. Quebec MP has prostate cancer but plans to run next election MONTREAL — Conservative MP Luc Berthold announced on Sunday that he has prostate cancer, but still plans to run in the next federal election despite requiring an operation. The longtime member of Parliament for Quebec’s Mégantic—L’Érable fed- eral riding shared the news on social media, saying he received the diagno- sis in 2024. “My prostate is sick and it has can- cer. In the next few weeks, I’ll have to get rid of it to prevent the disease from spreading elsewhere in my bones and organs,” he wrote on Facebook. “Having lost both my mother and father to throat and lung cancer, I have to admit that the specialist’s words stirred up old pains and bad memories in my head.” However, Berthold added there was reason for optimism because the can- cer has so far not spread, which means he will be able to treat the disease and receive an operation in Quebec City in the coming weeks. Berthold also said he has no inten- tion of stepping down. “Rest assured, I have no intention of resigning, and I will be a candidate in the next federal election for the new riding of Mégan- tic-l’Érable-Lotbinière,” he said. “I will, however, need to take a few weeks off to recover from the operation that will rid me of my sick prostate. This could happen at any time, the soon- er the better, and perhaps even during the upcoming election campaign,” the MP wrote. Berthold was first elected under the federal Conservative banner in 2015 and won reelection in both 2019 and 2021. He previously served as mayor of Thetford-Mines, Que., from 2006 to 2013. — The Canadian Press JOE BONGIORNO ;