Islanders take to Charlottetown waterfront for National Indigenous Peoples Day

Turnout was high at the Charlottetown waterfront on Saturday as Islanders gathered for music, dance and food to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The drum group, Lone Cry Singers, sang traditional songs for attendees and vendors at the mawio'mi, or powwow, on the waterfront.

"It's lovely to be able to come here and sing for everybody, it's actually, this is such a huge turnout," said Dresmond Cudmore, the drum keeper in the group.

"We're very, very, very happy to be here. It's nice being invited to be able to sing. I mean, we're all family here."

The Lone Cry Singers group has been a part of Cudmore's family for years.

"Our drum group started a long time ago — Lone Cry Singers around 2011 — when my uncle decided that we should all have like a summer hobby," he said.

"[Gives us] something to do, and also, you know, get rich with the culture."

Bradley Cooper, political adviser for the Native Council of P.E.I., was at the waterfront on Saturday.

"Today's the day we come together to celebrate and honour what Indigenous peoples have done throughout all of Canadian history," he said.

"All their contributions, the way that they've helped Canada be formed into the country that it is today. This is what we're looking forward to today, a happy day, a celebration day for Indigenous peoples."

But that wasn't the only thing bringing people to this event, Cooper said. This year, there was a traditional food item for all to enjoy: moose chili.

"It's a traditional food item from our people. It's made as you expect for normal chili, but the secret is that instead of normal ground beef, we actually use pure moose meat itself."

He said the meat was harvested from Nova Scotia moose.

On the waterfront, vendors were selling their art and crafts, and some activities at the event encouraged younger attendees to get involved with Mi'kmaw culture.

"The candy dance is something that we started practising," Cooper said. "... It's a typical dance that we get our young children to come in and tend with, and at the end of the dance, we give them a nice little candy."

Though, with the celebrations landing on a weekend, Cooper felt a bit disappointed

"Each year, I'm happy with the turnout [but] a little sad this year that we didn't have National Indigenous Peoples Day on a weekday," he said.

"Normally we have a bus full of young school children come here and participate with us, but being on a weekend with happy weather like this, it couldn't be better."