New Indigenous experience workshops offered at Fort Edmonton Park

Natalie Pepin leads a group of park staff and other tourism experts on a walk along the tree lined paths of Fort Edmonton Park.It's part of a pilot for a new workshop being offered next month.

"The land is everything to us, and that's not just pretty words that I share, it's our language, our foods, our arts, our ceremonies, our stories, they are all rooted in the land," says Pepin, aMtis facilitatororiginally from Winnipeg who now lives in the Tawatinaw Valley, north of Edmonton.

As she strolls along, shepoints out plants and talks about the animals and their importance.

Pepin is laying the foundation for how these materials will be used in the sessions on birch bark basketry in April and working with animal fibres in May.

Each 2-hour Indigenous Perspectiveworkshop costs about$100 to attend and includes materials.

'We really want to showcase authentic Indigenous experiences'

3 years ago

Duration 2:06

Get a feel for the new Indigenous Experience workshops now being offered at Fort Edmonton Park.

You can see more from Fort Edmonton Park on Our Edmonton on Saturday at 10 a.m., Sunday at noon and 11 a.m. Monday on CBC TV and CBC Gem.

"Our skills contain the stories and the values and important cultural context of our Nations. Our skills hold those hints," Pepin says.

After the walk, the group gathers in the loft of a large refurbished barn for more stories, songs and to begin some hands-on learning.

Katie Kennedy holds a small square of caribou hide she's embroidering.

"It's very complex and difficult," says the Explore Edmonton event development manager."I'll be practising when I get home."

For Kennedy, it'simportant to attend workshops like these and develop relationships.

"We're taking a big focus on Indigenous experiences and we want to make sure we're going about things the right way," Kennedy says.

The workshops complement the learningopportunities offered at thenew Indigenous Peoples Experiencethat opened last year at the fort, saysLacey Huculak, Fort Edmonton'sexperience development manager.

• Indigenous tourism holds key to Alberta's post-pandemic recovery, officials say
• Fort Edmonton Park reopens to public
• Mtis Crossing expands tourism experiences in Alberta

"This is really an immersive, authentic way to engage," says Huculak. She adds that there are plans to add more workshops in future.

"We'd love to expand into food teaching, into dance and other different sorts of skill sets."The hope is to offer a workshop every month, she says.

Fort Edmonton Park will open for the season on May 21.

'A great place to come and visit this summer'

3 years ago

Duration 1:53

CBC TV's Our Edmonton explores the newly renovated Fort Edmonton Park now open for the summer.