Sask. celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day with dancing, march — and a new logo design for Roughriders

Chris Edwards · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 21, 2025 5:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

People crossed Saskatchewan celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day connected Saturday, hosting a scope of gatherings astatine museums, taste centres and nationalist parks. 

National Indigenous Peoples Day has been observed nationally each June 21 since 1996 to celebrate and item the unsocial cultures, languages and traditions of Canada's Indigenous communities.

Celebrations successful Saskatchewan began connected Friday, allowing schools to participate, with the City of Regina hosting an lawsuit successful Victoria Park. Hundreds of radical gathered for dancing performances, acquisition experiences and a expansive introduction of section Indigenous and assemblage leaders.

"It's truly important to the radical to cognize that we are valued wrong Regina and wrong Saskatchewan arsenic Indigenous people, and that we are not an invisible minority," said Ashley Poorman-Rope, who attended the event.

"It's important to cognize that we bash beryllium and our civilization does proceed to thrive."

Several section schools participated successful the event, giving students the accidental to prosecute with the taste presentations and effort creation lessons.

"We're talking to the kids astir wherefore this was important and showing them," said Georgina Lee, who teaches grades 6 and 7 astatine Marion McVeety simple schoolhouse successful Regina.

"We person a batch of caller migrant families astatine our schoolhouse and a batch of newcomers, truthful this is astir of their archetypal clip doing this, having this experience."

The gathering successful Victoria Park was followed by events astatine Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which hosted peculiar displays of Indigenous artifacts, organized beading activities and showcased a opus by the Kawacatoose Boys' Singers and Dance Troupe.

"It's specified an important time to beryllium celebrating," said Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Alana Ross at the event, saying it's important "we observe and each larn and admit our civilization successful Saskatchewan."

Celebrations besides began Friday successful Saskatoon, with respective 1000 radical attending the Rock Your Roots Walk for Reconciliation procession, which honoured residential schoolhouse victims and survivors.

Many attendees wore orange — the colour associated with reconciliation and remembrance of residential schoolhouse survivors — to the event, which was accompanied with drumming, dancing and different performances. 

Shaylynn Naytowhow was 1 of the marchers. For her, the lawsuit demonstrated "reconciliation successful action," and that Indigenous individuality is worthy celebrating. 

"I consciousness similar I'm present for the children," she said. "The children from the past who are present nary longer here, but besides the children successful the present, close now. They request to larn the value of this, the value of their identity."

On Saturday, Wanuskewin Heritage Park extracurricular Saskatoon hosted a day-long lawsuit with dancing, accepted games, and singing. 

In Regina, the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced a caller Indigenous saltation for their logo, adding caller colours for the 2025 CFL season. It was designed by Chris Chipak of Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

The logo is an updated mentation of the archetypal Indigenous logo created by Chipak that was unveiled successful September 2024, which was predominantly green.

"I deliberation Indigenous civilization truly embraces each of these agleam and bold colours, and that was possibly 1 happening that was missing from the greenish version, which we love, but didn't person that existent 'punch,'" said Mark Habicht, who runs the Roughrider's retail operations.  

"This logo is conscionable excessively bully to ne'er bring retired to Rider Nation, and truthful we're truly blessed to motorboat it today."