PRINCE ALBERT — The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division is celebrating its fifth annual Ribbon Skirt/Ribbon Shirt Day on Friday.
In December of 2020, 10-year-old Isabella Kulak, who is a member of Cote First Nation, wore a ribbon skirt to a formal day at school in Kamsack. During the formal day, Kulak was told that her skirt and other dress was not considered formal.
The Good Spirit School Division eventually apologized for what her father called a “racially motivated comment.”
Theresa Thorsen, an Indigenous perspectives consultant for Sask Rivers, said the
annual Ribbon Skirt/Ribbon Shirt Day is traditionally held on March 8 but is being celebrated on Friday because March 8 is a Saturday.
"It began around the same year and time as the Isabella Kulak story came into the media, so the division felt that it was important to host kind of a division day of solidarity,” Thorsen said.
There is also a national day in January, but Sask Rivers made the decision to hold it as close to International Women’s Day on March 8. This is done to honour the strength and the power in the voice of women.
“In Indigenous worldview women are givers of life,” Thorsen said.
On each Ribbon Skirt/Ribbon Shirt Day, Indigenous people are encouraged to wear the ribbon skirt or shirt with pride. Thorsen said it’s also a day where non-Indigenous people can wear a ribbon skirt or shirt to stand in solidarity with the Indigenous community.
The division encourages students who do not have a ribbon skirt or shirt to wear a shirt or a skirt that's meaningful to them or that represents their cultural background.
The division also hosts Professional Development days for educators based around Ribbon Skirt teachings.
"The teachers learn the history and the teachings behind the ribbon skirts, and then they work through the process of making their own,” Thorsen said. “Each skirt tells its own story, and that is usually representative of the person who is wearing it.”
The professional development days are done with the support of Bonny Johnson. Johnson co-wrote a guide with Leah Dorion about making contemporary-style Métis ribbon skirts.
"It's a fantastic resource, and the teachers who attend the workshop will receive one, but a lot of our schools across the division have it,” she said.
Dorion did a lot of historical research about ribbon skirts in the process of writing the book, which was published through the Gabriel Dumont Institute.
"It has the history of the ribbon skirts and the teachings within there. But it also goes step by step on how to make your own skirt in the book as well,” Thorsen explained.
The division also does a virtual session for teachers and students with Dorion. This year, it will take place on March 5.
In the workshop, they work through and explore the High Plains Metis Ribbon Skirt teachings, and the students learn about the fur trade's influence on Metis clothing.
"They do a direct mixed media with Leah right through the whole kind of virtual session," Thorsen said.
In these sessions, students create bulletin boards. Students can make their own ribbon skirts out of poster paper or felt, make pins of ribbon skirts or shirts.
"That's another way that we support this work leading up to our Sask Rivers Ribbon Skirt/Ribbon Shirt Day,” she said.
Thorsen added that an event like this also shows how Indigenous perspectives permeate teaching in the division.
"Our messaging as well is we honour and remember the importance of this day, the perspectives and teachings that are shared, but we also have those conversations throughout the year. They're ongoing because we're all on a journey together towards reconciliation, and we recognize that education is a platform for hope as we come together as a community,” she explained.
They have also had requests to do ribbon shirt professional development workshops, which the division is planning for the future.
"The kind of big important message again is just around honouring the voices of women. Wearing that skirt gives them an opportunity to share the story behind it, whether it's a ribbon skirt or a shirt that's significant or meaningful to them or represents their culture in some way,” Thorsen said.
"It's really an honour and a privilege to be a part of the ribbon skirt making professional development.”
Thorsen said that there is love in every stitch of a ribbon skirt or shirt.
“When the participants have finished their skirt, it can be a very emotional time. It can be very powerful because it often represents a part of their healing journey as well and the pride that is demonstrated on their face when they have completed their skirts,” Thorsen said.
"When they're wearing them and somebody comments on how beautiful it is, they are able to say that they made it themselves and that it's part of their story. It's part of their journey, and so I would encourage people, whenever I'm wearing my skirts or if you see somebody wearing a skirt, ask them what the story behind their skirt is, or their shirt.”
