Friday is a big milestone for many Indigenous high school students graduating in Whitehorse. Dressed in traditional regalia, they'll celebrate the end of one chapter of their lives and the beginning of another. And for one group of students there were many milestones that preceded Friday's graduation ceremony — goals that were accomplished stitch by stitch.
The Northern Cultural Expressions Society's regalia program supports Indigenous students to design and create their own regalia for Yukon First Nations Graduation. The program has been running for 14 years and has been steadily growing. This year, the society partnered with Porter Creek Secondary School to use the school's textile room to help accommodate the eight students and four staff involved in the program.
Calista Silverfox, the program supervisor, says it was "a good fit." Resident elder Dorothy Bellrose with Shane Clennett, participating in the Northern Cultural Expressions Society's regalia program in Whitehorse. Clennett made himself a vest to wear at the First Nations graduation ceremony in Whitehorse on Friday.
(Calista Silverfox) Some Indigenous graduating students will have older regalia passed down to them from family members, or they might have new regalia made specifically for them by loved ones. The students involved in the Northern Cultural Expressions Society program have opted to make their own pieces of regalia. Over the course of the last four and a half months, they've learned how to use sewing m.