R. D. Parker Collegiate's Youth Aboriginal Council (YAC) is celebrating Aboriginal Awareness Week, which runs from May 25 - May 28, with various events and workshops at the high school.
May 25 saw various workshops being held in different classrooms. Today a motivational workshop will be held with Grammy recording artist Star Nayea, with Nayea performing tomorrow morning at the Letkemann Theatre. Nayea is a singer/songwriter that plays blues, pop and rock. She has won both a Grammy and a Native American Music Award (NAMA). Nayea says she has drawn from bad experiences in her life to make her a better performer. When she was only two months old, she was taken from her aboriginal family by Lutheran Social Services of Detroit and ended up in an abusive foster home before she broke free from her adoptive family and discovered her passion for music.
Also on Thursday Allan Sutherland of the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba will be giving a presentation called "We Are All Treaty People" in the Letkemann Theatre.
On Friday the week wraps up with entertainer and guest speaker Winston Wuttunee in the Letkemann Theatre with a potluck lunch at 12:15 p.m. There will also be a multicultural talent show in the theatre that day.
Wuttunee is an aboriginal entertainer who has performed throughout North America, Europe and Australia as a singer, keynote speaker and comedian. He was born and raised in Saskatchewan and is fluent in Cree, English, French and has a good grasp of the German language as well. He spend many years as part of the Canadian Guards Regimental Band as a clarinetist.
Becky Hudson, secretary for YAC, and Brian Beardy, an active YAC member, say they've been working on making Aboriginal Awareness Week something to remember for weeks now. They say the event is aimed at everyone in the community, not just aboriginal people.
