‘Standing on the shoulders of our ancestors’

Lauren Hallett watched her aunts and mom receive their diplomas and sashes at the University of Manitoba annual powwow when she was a young girl.

On Saturday, she received her own.

“It just really feels like my turn, and it’s really special to be celebrated in this way by my family,” she said outside the Investor’s Group Athletic Centre. “I feel so full of gratitude and also just humility.”

About 119 students celebrated their graduation from the U of M at the university’s 36th annual traditional powwow ceremony Saturday afternoon.

Ribbon skirts, jingle dresses and headdresses filled the interior of the gymnasium, while the smell of food trucks serving up Indigenous cuisine wafted from outside the building.

Graduates received blue sashes after receiving their diplomas and Metis academics received traditional sashes from the Manitoba Metis Federation.

More than 470 Indigenous students graduated from the university for the 2024-25 academic year.

Hallett received her bachelor of health studies with a focus on family health and a minor in Indigenous studies. She plans to go on to get her masters degree before working with an Indigenous community health organization in Winnipeg.

“It’s really meaningful to incorporate the culture and our ceremonies in very public, open loud ways,” she said. “It really feels like reclaiming our space and it is truly empowering.”

The event was once held in a small gym within the university’s education department and has grown exponentially over the decades.

“It’s really meaningful to incorporate the culture and our ceremonies in very public, open loud ways. It really feels like reclaiming our space and it is truly empowering.”–Lauren Hallett

This year, the ceremony kicked off with a pipe ceremony and elder’s prayer in the morning, before a grand entrance of the graduates, speeches and drum circles.

Family and loved ones hollered from the bleachers as each of the 119 graduates were called to receive their diplomas from multiple faculties, including arts, social work, education, engineering, science, the Asper School of Business, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources and the Max Rady College of Medicine.

This year’s attendees marks one of the highest attendances in the event’s history.

“It means that we are continuing that commitment to honour Indigenous ways of being, doing and knowing, and really to drive Indigenous excellence,” said Angie Bruce, vice president (Indigenous) at the U of M.

Red River College Polytechnic hosted its 25th annual powwow Friday to celebrate a record 184 registered students.

The University of Winnipeg held its own powwow at the Duckworth Centre on Sunday.

Bruce said events such as graduation powwows honour reconciliation within educational institutions.

“It’s a huge commitment,” she said. “I think this is the culmination of all what we do here for the students.”

Dane Monkman, who graduated with a masters of arts in political studies, said the event is not only important for recognizing his ancestors, but to also build a path forward for the next generation of academic.

“We are all standing on the shoulders of our ancestors and following the past they’ve set out for us, and it’s important for us to remember that,” he said.

Monkman hopes celebrations like Saturday’s powwow continue so young Indigenous people can be inspired to make their own academic achievements.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca