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Rankin celebrates Aboriginal Day
Community joins to recognize traditional culture

Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, July 2, 2014

RANKIN INLET
The community of Rankin Inlet came together in a celebration of culture, heritage and summertime on National Aboriginal Day, June 21.

NNSL photo/graphic

RCMP Const. Stephen Currie works the grill at the community barbecue in Rankin Inlet, celebrating National Aboriginal Day on June 21. Currie said 400 burgers and countless hot dogs were brought to be cooked for the community. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo

As they have for years, the Rankin Inlet RCMP and Arctic Co-Op joined forces to put on a barbecue for the community, giving away hot dogs, hamburgers and juice.

Elders, youth and families lined up outside the co-op to get their taste of the barbecue with volunteers handing out the morsels, and police officers working the grills.

They brought 400 burgers with them and had given away 250 within the first half hour and had many hot dogs, all of which were gone by the time the barbecue ended two hours later.

Cst. Stephen Currie with the RCMP said the members enjoy getting the chance to get out in the community in a different light.

"It's nice to have something where we celebrate heritage, and it's good to get us involved and our families involved," he said.

Kono Tuttuinee, president of the Arctic Co-op, who had just returned from Moncton, NB, where he was attending the funeral of three slain RCMP officers, said the two groups have a great working relationship, as they are both community-minded organizations.

"We've had this relationship for the past few years now, all the co-ops throughout the North get together with their RCMP detachments to put this on for the community," he said.

The first Aboriginal Day was celebrated in 1996 after more than a decade of requests for a national holiday celebrating aboriginal peoples were made by the Assembly of First Nations. According to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development's website, the holiday is part of a series of Celebrate Canada holidays, including the National Holiday of Quebec on June 24, Canada Multiculturalism Day on June 27 and Canada Day on July 1.

For Tuttuinee, Aboriginal Day is a about both celebration and acceptance.

"It's important to us to hold this to celebrate the importance of being aboriginal, and to celebrate our culture and all others. It's a day where we think on accepting one another, no matter if we're aboriginal, or non-aboriginal."

He said National Aboriginal Day is especially important to the Arctic Co-op, as its workforce is at least 70 per cent aboriginal.

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