Four eagles soared above Fraser Heritage Park in Mission on Friday (June 20) as a crowd gathered for National Indigenous Peoples Day.
Mission Friendship Centre executive director Dawn Styran said it was a meaningful sign.
"They were in the four corners and traditionally, we do everything in fours — four quadrants of life, four quadrants of medicines. So to have the winged ones join us today was very moving," Styran said.
The annual event hosted by the Friendship Centre featured vendors, entertainment, interactive activities, free food, and children's activities. Both Stryan and Mission Friendship Centre board chair Jodie Ward spoke at the event, in addition to Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper, City of Mission arts and culture manager Mark Haney, Mission Downtown Business Association executive director Karley Holley, and representatives from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
Ward said the event went well with partnerships, vendors and the community coming together.
"There was a lot of hard work and we connected with the community. We got a lot of donations from all the places in town for our silent auction," Ward said. "Dawn and her staff and the volunteers did very well. They came together – we always come together with an open heart [and] open mind."
Styran echoed Ward and credited the work of Friendship Centre staff for making the event a reality.
"My staff has been awesome. We've been a little stressed at the centre over the week about how it's going to go, especially when we heard it was supposed to rain on us, but it seems to have all come together," Styran said.
She went on to say: "It's been an overwhelming week with the LMS Society celebration here just a couple of days ago, so to be back on the lands where we just celebrated and to have another celebration is deeply impacting."
Styran said hosting the event each year is meaningful because of the way it brings together nations and cultures while showcasing the hard work of artisans, many of whom are Indigenous.
"This year, to have the Indian Residential School Survivors Society here to help us carry out the work in a culturally safe manner is very meaningful. Especially considering we are on the sacred lands of the original residential school here in Mission as well, and all the work that the Nations have been doing to find, locate and recover the ones that were lost within these grounds," Styran said.
Donations from the silent auction at the event will support Mission Friendship Centre programming.
