BONNYVILLE – On Oct. 4, the Bonnyville Friendship Centre is hosting a free banquet complete with performances and guest speakers.
The event combines truth and reconciliation awareness, with Missing, Murdered, and Exploited Indigenous People (MMEIP) advocacy, creating a night for the community to come together in solidarity to remember, learn, and honour the history and current realities Indigenous peoples face, as well as celebrate the rich Indigenous culture.
The event will be held at the C2 Centre in the field house, and doors will open at 5:30 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. banquet and a ceremony at 7:15 p.m.
Organizer Janet Gobert expressed her excitement about this event, which she says has taken a great effort from the Friendship Centre to organize.
“It's absolutely amazing. It has been months in planning... I'd like to think of it as creating a safe place for dialogue, understanding, promoting awareness, and facilitating respectful relationships, because then we can truly build the foundation for mutual respect and healing. That's what I'm hoping for through this event,” said Gobert.
Gobert was happy to announce a lineup of speakers and performers including Jeannette MacInnis, the director of strategic partnership and public relations for the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association, and musician Beatrice Love who was a Canada’s Got Talent semi-finalist.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but we’re also bringing in [a Cree drum group] and we have approximately 30 dancers that are going to be doing an entry with children representing the children that have been lost. It’s going to be phenomenal,” said Gobert.
She was ardent in her reminder to community members that the event is open to absolutely everyone, and that the banquet is free. If you wish to attend, simply let the Friendship Centre know so they can arrange numbers with the caterer.
Gobert stands behind her mandate to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and foster harmony in the community.
“As far as I'm concerned, when I say that we're going to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, this is the perfect way to do that, so I continue to do it and that's why I put so much into it every year.”
The event has been a success for the past three years, and Gobert says it has even caught the attention of the federal government in the past.
