Video Riverside Traditional Knowledge Tour observes National Indigenous Peoples Day in Revelstoke

Revelstoke community organizations hosted a Riverside Traditional Knowledge Tour to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, 2021.

The Riverside Traditional Knowledge Tour opened for National Indigenous Peoples Day and features an arresting display of red dresses suspended from the trees. The exhibit runs until June 26. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine

The exhibit and tour is a collaboration between several community groups, including the Revelstoke Aboriginal Friendship Society, Arts Revelstoke, School District No. 19 and the B.C. Interior Forestry Museum, other organizations, and many volunteers. It features art and cultural exhibits at the Revelstoke Riverside Forest Walk near the forestry museum on Highway 23 North.

A mossy forest floor shaded by the branches of of the forest canopy overhead serves as the backdrop for a series of exhibits along the riverside pathway.

RSS Aboriginal education worker Lisa Moore. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine

Lisa Moore, an Indigenous education worker with School District. No. 19, coordinated the event with students, local artists, organizations and volunteers.

“We wanted to provide some education around National Indigenous Peoples Day, and also be outside, because everything should be connected to the land,” Moore said.

The exhibits include a traditional Sturgeon-nosed canoe model, a reflection-inducing installation of red dresses, and an exhibit bringing focus to the humanity of individual missing or murdered Indigenous women. Artists’ statements and audio recordings add to the tour through the trees.

Video: Watch our preview of the tour here:

Moore said many students were in involved in the exhibit creation process. They wrote the script, created exhibits, installed them with the help of local artists, and hosted the tours.

RSS Grade 11 student Kelly Cassity. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine

Revelstoke Grade 11 student Kelly Cassity was the host for our tour, stopping to interpret the exhibits and share knowledge about things such as individual plants, passing on advice about the importance of picking only in a sustainable way.

As for the exhibit, Cassity was eager for it to connect with visitors.

“I think learning is a very impactful thing. I think people who are learning and more resilient … more understanding to the culture, to the people, to the land, they are less likely to disrupt it, to harm it, to hurt it,” Cassity said. “So, I think a big part of this whole exhibit, in an of itself, is the ability to learn about it, the ability to have that privilege to be here, and to respect the land that we are on.”

The Riverside Traditional Knowledge Tour opened for National Indigenous Peoples Day and features an arresting display of red dresses suspended from the trees. The exhibit runs until June 26. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine

The Revelstoke Traditional Knowledge Tour runs until June 26. Times are 5 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 1 p.m Friday and Saturday. Spaces are limited. Groups of 8-10 people during the tour. To book a time, contact the B.C. Interior Forestry Museum at 250-837-8078.

The backdrop is the Riverside Forest Walk nearby the B.C. Interior Forestry Museum. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine

For more, check out our video of the exhibit embedded above.

~

Some additional details to this story to be added or updated later.