Close to 60 people gathered behind the Yellowknife Fieldhouse for the grand opening of the urban on the land healing camp on Tuesday afternoon.
YKDFN drummers sing an opening prayer song during at the opening of the new urban on the land healing camp.
The Arctic Wellness Indigenous Foundation held a grand opening for their new traditional healing camp two months after they won a million dollar prize to help fund the project. The current location of the camp is temporary as the foundation continues to build a permanent location closer to the territorial hospital. The ceremony was opened with a song by William Greenland, Traditional Counsellor with the foundation, before the Yellowknife Dene First First Nation Drummers performed a prayer song to open a ‘feeding the fire’ ceremony. The opening was closed with remarks from Mark Heyck, the Mayor of the City of Yellowknife, as well as a number of Aboriginal leaders.