'We are still here': Community gathers for Indigenous Peoples Day

The Lummi Nation welcomed hundreds of community members into the Wex’liem Community Building Monday night, Oct. 9, for salmon, song, dance and speeches to mark Indigenous Peoples Day. 

With the Blackhawk singers opening and closing the event, the celebration featured Indigenous people from across the region. 

Keynote speaker and doctor Evan Adams, from the Tla'amin Nation north of Powell River, British Columbia, came to Lummi for the event to speak about Canadian Indigenous experiences and health care. 

Youth speaker Santana Rabang of the Lummi Nation, Nooksack Tribe and First Nations Shxwhá:y Village spoke of her personal experience watching Indigenous people become more represented in mainstream culture. Several speakers from the Lummi Nation and surrounding tribes spoke at the event as well.