PowWow to Honor ICWA & Orange Shirt Day

Honoring First Nations people who’ve attended residential schools
Busse Woods Groves #20, #23 & #24 • E. Higgins Rd/Rte 72, east of I-290/Hwy 53
Cook County, IL 60007
Saturday, September 24th, 2022 we honored the survivors and victims of residential/boarding schools of Canada and the U.S. at Busse Woods (Groves #20, #23 & #24) with the Every Child Matters PowWow! In tandem with Orange Shirt Day (Friday, September 30th) in Canada where residential schools housed and educated indigenous children dating back more than a century. However, recent discoveries of mass unmarked graves of indigenous children near these boarding schools have only begun to be investigated. Too many unanswered questions remain. Tribes in the U.S. join with our Canadian family in seeking answers to this injustice as we recognize Canada’s statutory holiday of Orange Shirt Day. Dr. Ramona Klein spoke heartfully about her often traumatic experiences at Fort Totten Indian Boarding School in North Dakota. She shared the emotions, heartbreaks and endurance she suffered faced with separation from her mother and siblings, and the often abusive psychological and physical treatment she endured by the staff of Fort Totten Indian Boarding School. We sought to raise awareness for the Indian Child Welfare Act which goes before the Supreme Court next session in the fall. ICWA is a policy establishing federal standards for the placement of Native American children in supportive homes that foster native culture, promoting stability and security for Native American Tribes throughout the United States. Defend ICWA!

Powwow Event Program:

11:00am: Event Opens
11:30pm: Speaker Dr. Ramona Klein
12:15pm: Invocation
12:30pm: Grand Entry
• Honor Guard: Trickster’s Native American Veteran’s of Illinois
• Presentation of Colors
• Jingle Dress Healing Special
• Intertribal Dance
1:30pm: Dance Competitions
5:00pm: Event Concludes

Event Participants:

Youth Arena Director Derrick David, 16 years old – Menominee, Santo Domingo Pueblo
Keynote Speaker Dr. Ramona Klein – Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
Senior Emcee: Mark LaRoque (Ojibwe)
Youth Emcee: Negwes White (Navajo, Ojibwe)
Senior Arena Director: Cory Starr (Three Affilated Tribes – MHA)
Youth Arena Director: Derrick David (Menominee, Santo Domingo Pueblo)
Head Youth Male: Winfield Wounded Eye (Ojibwe, Northern Cheyenne)
Head Youth Female: Amber Roy (Ojibwe, Pyramid Lake Paiute)
Host Drum: Iron Bear – Sterling Big Bear III (Ponca, Ihanktonwan)
Guest Drum: Little Priest – Kelly Logan (Ho-Chunk)
Guest Drum: Wind Eagle – Sugar Shane Webster (Menominee)

Dance Competitions:

ALL SENIOR MEN (55+)
1st Place $200, 2nd Place $150, 3rd Place $100
ALL SENIOR WOMEN (55+)
1st Place $200, 2nd Place $150, 3rd Place $100
ALL ADULT MEN (18-54)
1st Place $200, 2nd Place $150, 3rd Place $100
ALL ADULT WOMEN (18-54)
1st Place $200, 2nd Place $150, 3rd Place $100
ALL MALE TEENS (13-17)
1st Place $150, 2nd Place $100 3rd Place $75
ALL FEMALE TEENS (13-17)
11st Place $150, 2nd Place $100 3rd Place $75
ALL BOYS (7-12)
1st Place $100, 2nd Place $75, 3rd Place $50
ALL GIRLS (7-12)
1st Place $100, 2nd Place $75, 3rd Place $50
TINY TOTS (0-6)

2022 Every Child Matters PowWow Keynote Speaker

Dr. Ramona Klein

On May 12, 2022, Dr. Ramona Klein spoke before the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States during the Hearing on the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy Act” (HR 5444) Her testimony was one of many first person accounts of the often horrifying abuse inflicted upon native american children who were forced to live away from their homes in boarding schools across the U.S. year round, often times for years without seeing their families. The U.S. Department of the Interior released a 106-page investigative report acknowledging the systematic abuse and deaths that occurred at government run Native American boarding schools.

Dr. Klein’s story rings with familiar injustices and overwhelming trauma’s that no child should have to endure. Taken from her family at the age of seven, Dr. Klein was shuttled hundreds of miles away from her home to the Fort Totten Indian School in North Dakota. From her first days when her hair was cut short, to the prohibition from seeing her siblings who also attended the same boarding school, her daily experiences, like many boarding school children, were filled with traumas and abuses.

In her own words Dr. Klein is able to rise above the memories but not forget…
“In spite of my boarding school experience, I became an educator myself. I have taught kindergarteners through graduate students, in public school, public and private universities, and Tribal college, including for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I have served as both the Graduate School Director and Chairperson of the Division of Education at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. In all these roles, I have tried to create for my students an educational experience that affirms who they are and builds them up, rather than one that presumes to “save” them by attempting to strip away their dignity.

I work hard to apply the seven teachings of the Anishinaabe—honesty, humility, truth, wisdom, love, respect, and bravery. This is why, despite my boarding school
experience, I believe that I have been able to show empathy to hurting students, to support and encourage others, and serve as a mentor whenever I am able.”*
*Taken from Dr. Klein’s congressional testimony

2022 Every Child Matters PowWow Gallery