SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Hundreds of people from Yellowknife and around the world gathered to celebrate National Aboriginal Day on Saturday.

NWT community leaders paid tribute to resi- dential school survivors in the wake of Prime Minister Ste- phen Harper's public apology.

In the 12 years since the federal government declared June 21 Aboriginal Day coinciding with the first day of summer, the GNWT is still the only jurisdiction in the country to recognize the day as a statutory holiday.

Assembly of First Nations regional and Dene Nation Chief Bill Erasmus asked the crowd for 30 seconds of silence in remembrance of residential school students who died before the June 11 apology.

NWT Commissioner Tony Whitford and Minister of Health Sandy Lee spoke on behalf of the GNWT followed by celebratory words from North Slave Metis Alliance Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington, Inuit elder former MLA Lena Peder- son, aboriginal therapeutic coun- sellor Rita Chre- tien and Mayor Gordon Van Tighem.

Garret Jones, one of the hosts of Yellowknife's cele- bration at the Community Arena, said that even though the day's festivities ­ including the annual free fish fry, trad- itional music and dancing, a peace flag workshop and lots of games for the kids ­ were meant for fun, politics did had at the celebration.

"It's important to incorpor- ate it all and remember every- thing we've been through," he said. "The speeches were quite important for what's going on today."

After his final traditional dance performance he added, "I love just making people happy when they're smiling and dancing and laughing."

As several hundreds of Yellowknife residents milled around the arena parking lot listening to the live music, enjoying fried fish and sucking on snow cones, Nellie Duran from Los Angeles, Calif., marvelled at the overwhelm- ing sense of community on her second day in the city.

"It's nice to see the com- munity come together," she said. "It's very diverse." Duran's friend Tanya Lantz comes to the festival every year and said this year's had the largest turnout she has seen so far, with lots of oppor- tunities to catch up with old friends.

"This is the biggest one," she said. "(I like) visiting with lots of people I haven't seen in a while. I see lots of faces from other communities."