Hon. Mary Jane McCallum moved third reading of Bill S-219, An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day.

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to third reading of Bill S-219.

I would first like to thank my honourable colleagues for their support in having this bill sent to committee. In doing so, you helped to facilitate and hold space for youth.

This case concerns a young First Nations girl named Isabella Kulak. We hold space for her and, in doing so, we also hold space for other youth. This is so for two reasons: The first is to explore and understand why that violence occurred. The second is to focus on Isabella’s responses, of which there were two: Shame initially, followed by a swift movement toward peace and conciliation.

I would like to begin my remarks today by explaining why I say that a violent act was committed. The gender violence committed was, and continues to be, transmitted through to future generations.

In her PhD entitled A Feminist Poststructural Analysis of Aboriginal Women’s Positioning in a Colonial Context: Nehinaw Iskwewak E-pikiskwecik, or “Cree women’s speak,” author Dr. Marlene Elizabeth McKay stated:

This group of women was interviewed to give them an opportunity to share how they see their lives being produced for them. Aboriginal women’s marginalization has become normalized through the systems, practices, and institutions that have materialized through the Indian Act, Christianity, Indigenous knowledges, and colonial relations with non‑Aboriginal society. Discursive practices located in these structures establish and maintain ideas of how and who these women are supposed to be. How these women are positioned is largely a product of our Canadian colonial history.

The work of Michel Foucault informed this research. Foucault’s rules and norms served as a lens to demonstrate how Aboriginal women are produced as unimportant and inferior. The notion of rules and norms is a social production that requires effort, and in this way these rules and norms are continuously being reproduced.

This socialization is learned and reproduced and therefore, appears normal and natural. . . .

. . . the outright daily racism that is imposed on them as a result of the social production that they do not matter, are unimportant, or are disposable. . . .

The discourse of the “dirty squaw” has become a dominant marker of Aboriginal women’s identities.

Honourable senators, this is the reality that we are born into as Indigenous girls. We are marked even before we are born. Young Indigenous girls have to overcome the perception of the dehumanized Aboriginal woman as a dirty squaw. Intergenerational trauma experienced by First Nations girls and women is unique and it is violent.

I know this first hand, because I have had to deal with it all my life and continue to face it to this day.

As Dr. McKay states:

The political implications of producing the Aboriginal subject as subordinate have been immense, leaving Aboriginal people with the task of undoing the damage done by colonialism.

That is why Isabella’s response is remarkable and points to the progress made by her parents, elders and the community. Women have continuously resisted oppressive systems to work toward a better future for themselves and their children. It speaks to the unrelenting power and spirit of First Nations women.

Colleagues, holding spaces is a concept that has been long practised and modelled by my people. For generations, holding spaces allowed children to learn from the land and nature with the ability to do so with fluidity, safety and purpose. It allowed children to learn traditions and life skills through land-based teachings and to learn collective laws.

Some of these teachings from Elder D’Arcy Linklater include the following: wakotowin, or social capital; Nehetho Tipethimisowin, the exercise of sovereignty, belonging to yourself and the responsibility of decision-making roles that come with this exercise; and Kistethichikewin, the idea that the conduct of a person must be based on the sacred responsibility to treat all things with respect and honour.

I was taught by my elders, in the past and today, to be intentional about the conversation brought forward in these spaces. I have also been taught to encourage the asking of big questions and to sit with brokenness and discomfort, but also with joy and resolution. I would like you to join me and do the same as we create space for youth through this bill to give them voice at the national stage.

Honourable senators, Donald Winnicott is quoted in author Heather Plett’s book The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership where he states:

. . . “holding” is what teachers and parents do when they create safe and supportive environments for children to learn while not jeopardizing the autonomy and individuality of those children.

Colleagues, while holding space was developed in a teaching and home environment, we, as senators, also have a vital role to play in bringing the voices of the marginalized to Parliament. This is, at times, a complex and difficult proposition. We are part of a public institution that is currently holding space to spotlight deep-rooted prejudice and racism. As a Senate whose role is, in part, to speak for the marginalized, we need to look at ways of addressing and challenging the ongoing victimization of women and girls in a timely and responsible manner.

Honourable senators, I would now like to bring forward a matter that was raised during this bill’s study at the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. Specifically, it was brought forward that the ribbon skirt is not regalia common to all First Nations, Métis, Inuit and non-status women and girls, as well as the LGBTQ community across Canada.

I would like to address this issue by saying that we must remember the focus of the bill, that being to highlight, then combat, gender violence while also promoting reconciliation and familiarity with Indigenous culture and tradition. It was never the goal of Bill S-219 to try to accommodate all of the various regalia worn across the country. That would be an impossible task. Attempting to do so would fundamentally alter the bill and detract from its initial intents: to understand the impact of violence against Indigenous women and girls, to celebrate the family’s subsequent actions toward inclusion and to facilitate dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens of Canada to encourage small and large acts of reconciliation and relationship building.

I would like to stress that I am not trying to convey the message that the ribbon skirt is pan-Canadian regalia. Conversely, it would be encouraged for other Indigenous nations, communities and groups to use January 4 as a day to bring forward their own forms of dress and regalia and to educate Canadians on their origins, use and importance.

This is what happened this past January 4, 2022, when Isabella Kulak was joined by a young Ukrainian schoolmate who also modelled her country’s own regalia. What better way to demonstrate reconciliation? Isabella and her family helped to create space and mentorship to allow other youth to do the same. We cannot stand by and fail to support her and other youth in their journey toward self-determination, which this bill aims to do.

Isabella is facing her and other Indigenous girls’ difficult history of colonialism, and in doing so, she is writing a different ending. She is entering a different world, one I could never have imagined was possible when I was her age. Isabella’s individual right to self-determination was supported by the collective determination that is the leadership, family and community that rallied around her and helped to turn a contentious issue into a positive movement. They embraced this issue and have used it as a tool for teaching and connecting with the surrounding non-Indigenous community.

Moreover, it should be remembered that culture is dynamic across Canada and throughout the world. It is not stagnant. We were made aware by Senator LaBoucane-Benson that First Nations adopted the scarf as part of the regalia from the Ukrainian community. People, for generations, have embraced and celebrated other cultures as will continue to happen.

Said to have its roots in the 18th century, the symbol of womanhood tells a story of adaptation and survival – showing that tribal communities have adopted western culture and made it their own.

Several museums report the materials used to make ribbon skirts aren’t Indigenous in origin, “but the method of applique done to create the folded look of the ribbon has become a visual marker of identity for centuries.”

Honourable senators, there are many intersectionalities that exist with the regalia of ribbon skirts. Race and gender are closely connected to self-care and self-determination. It is critical to understand that the liberation of oppressed peoples begins with the critical understanding of how they are oppressed.

In her 2012 article entitled “Self-Determination and Indigenous Women’s Rights at the Intersection of International Human Rights,” author Rauna Kuokkanen states:

Self-determination (both individual and collective) and gendered violence are among the most important and pressing issues for indigenous women worldwide.

She further contends that for Indigenous self-determination to be successful, it must also “address the question of violence against Indigenous women” and girls.

This violence hasn’t been addressed in Canada but continues to infiltrate into the lives of our women and, of greater consequence, our youth. Left unaddressed, this violence will continue to impact negatively and cumulatively on the future of their civil, political and cultural rights.

Colleagues, violence is a health issue. Health is a basic human right and is an enabling right that, when respected, allows for the fulfillment of other human rights, including self-determination.

In her 2016 article entitled, “Red Intersectionality and Violence-informed Witnessing Praxis with Indigenous Girls,” author Natalie Clark states:

. . . I have joined the voices of other Indigenous scholars . . . in calling for a more complex understanding of policy and programming as it affects Indigenous girls. Carolyn Kenny describes the impact of what she calls the “double bind” . . . in the lives of Indigenous women and girls of being silenced in key decisions and policies that have an impact on their lives while, at the same time, their participation is essential to social change, leadership, and healing in their communities.

Honourable senators, Isabella Kulak made a “key decision” to wear her ribbon skirt and that is an act of self-care. Being silenced in this “key decision,” made in her private life, had the potential to lead to being silenced in public and political life. We have witnessed the silencing of Indigenous voices on issues that impact health and self-determination in our own committees. We must not continue to be complicit, as silencing will eventually filter to the intergenerational group.

Author Natalie Clark continues:

Furthermore, any social justice action or outcomes must be situated within a framework that holds onto tradition and intergenerational knowledge while making meaning of modern Indigenous struggles. . . .

To this point, the solutions that Chief and Council of Cote First Nation — Isabella’s home community — devised were rooted in the community and in their traditions. This was affirmed in Chief Cote’s committee testimony wherein he said the community’s hope is to:

. . . teach non-First Nations the identity of the Anishinaabe people in our territory and also learn about the other cultures that our young First Nations students are going to meet when they go to the non-First Nations schools.

In this way, Cote First Nation is already modelling what this bill seeks to accomplish — valuing and practising tolerance, acceptance and understanding of cultures and traditions that are different from your own.

Colleagues, author Natalie Clark also speaks about violence and safety as it relates to Indigenous girls, writing:

Community-based approaches, such as models of . . . ceremonies, are important since they provide spaces in which girls can be seen in the circle, and because they allow us to understand their experiences of violence, as well as naming and situating their resistance to such experiences. . . .

The author continues:

. . . the so-called trauma industry has continued a colonial legacy of labeling and pathologizing Indigenous girls that manages their behavior through criminalization, medication, and talk therapy programs which ultimately serve “to reinforce a sense of powerlessness and undermine women’s ability to resist”.

Honourable senators, I cannot help but wonder if Isabella and her family had not dealt with the shame she felt, could it have been internalized as a festering wound that would have resulted in the need for medication and counselling in the years to come? It might seem a small incident to some, but I will tell you that the cumulative impacts of racism and violence from a young age do lead to soul wounding. Such disproportionate impacts have the capability of having long-term and far-reaching consequences if not addressed.

In Isabella’s situation, her family and community were proactive, which deserves acknowledgment and celebration. At the same time, we also need to highlight and bring the perspective of the youth who are less supported because they have fewer resources. Bill S-219 provides an opportunity to promote gender equality and a more inclusive society, with women and girls at the centre of this effort. The earlier that girls and boys understand equity, equality and inclusiveness, the better for their future as well as the future of Canada.

Colleagues, inequity is one of the most pervasive problems in Canadian society. Inequity has a multitude of causes with the result that it creates differences in access to schooling, health, opportunity, food, water, housing, geography, self-determination and quality of life. Equity is very important in understanding and practising self-care and self-determination.

These inequities do not occur naturally. They are the result of laws and policies that do not consider equality and equity. When youth find little meaning in social policies, they tend to disengage from the system. If we do not act accordingly to address this serious issue that affects youth throughout Canada, our systems will be doomed to continue to reproduce social and economic inequity, further disenfranchising large segments of Canada’s youth population.

Society is used to seeing and hearing about the Indigenous youth who suffer the most inequity, that is, they have few or no resources or supports to be able to think and act positively, let alone to do what Isabella did. These youth have undergone and continue to undergo a different history and hence a different trajectory in their lives.

There have been countless reports on Indigenous youth, whether they focus on children in care or in juvenile centres. There have been many reports, inquiries and commissions on Indigenous women — reports that were built on their bodies. While these reports have had varying degrees of publicity, whatever knowledge and awareness they have raised have not resulted in timely, meaningful policy reform. Moreover, the subject of juvenile justice for these Indigenous youth has largely gone ignored. Such inaction positions Indigenous youth, including Indigenous girls, in a severe deficit. All the while, our laws and policies refuse to address the root cause, namely the legacy of colonial structures, whether they be legal or otherwise.

Honourable senators, history tells us that Indigenous peoples needed to be tamed from their savage ways. This was accomplished by Christian missionaries who blatantly refused to accept the legitimacy of Indian culture and religion. As a child going into residential school, for the 11 years I was there, all our clothing and property were removed when we entered on our first day. We were given clothing that would take away our uniqueness. We were all dressed the same with the same bowl haircut. We were forced to adopt a foreign language. We were meant to see ourselves as invisible, with no history, no culture, no traditions.

Something as simple as removing your right to dress in a way that expresses and celebrates yourself does have lasting impacts. It starts that road towards dependence, blind obedience, shame and learned helplessness. In reality, government and religious organizations took children with rich culture and unilaterally created impoverished cultures.

Colleagues, this bill celebrates the resistance to violence and the promotion of peace in its stead. Within the December 2020 news article “‘It’s like armour’: A look at the resurgence of ribbon skirts” by Kathleen Martens, Ms. Isabella Kulak states:

I didn’t want it to turn into ugly hate for the (educational assistant). She’s a person. Maybe she made mistakes with what she said. I’m sure she regrets it.

Isabella’s father said his family was invited to help improve the education-system knowledge of First Nations issues, including clothing.

In the same article, Helene Cote of Kamsack states:

As an educator I know the importance of accepting students for who they are. . . Empowering students and building confidence is what molds successful students.

Grandmother Ketchemonia-Cote said, “What happened shouldn’t have happened. But let’s see something good come of it.”

Colleagues, I have spoken to many people and heard of their initiatives directed at the ribbon skirt and in support of Isabella. Some of these include ribbon skirt classes held at a Turtle Island business where they teach six women at a time the wisdom behind the ribbon skirts; ribbon skirts being made for choir members and the choir mistress for an upcoming arts festival this spring in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; and ribbon skirts for a bride and her grandchildren; and a Canadian university’s Indigenous people’s centre initiated by women will look at this bill and discuss the spiritual components of the ribbon skirt.

Honourable senators, holding space for Isabella Kulak and other youth has been a multi-layered endeavour for me. All who spoke, commented on or questioned Bill S-219 inside and outside of the Senate added a layer to the collective understanding of the impacts Canadian history has had on Indigenous youth. In doing so, we thereby develop compassion and move towards reconciliation and conciliation. These conversations added contour, depth, colour and clarity to this issue through both second reading and committee study as well as through the debate and vote yet to come.

I would like to close by reiterating that the goal of Bill S-219 is to bring people together and not to divide. The bill names the ribbon skirt because that was the regalia used as a conduit of violence against young Ms. Kulak and by extension against all Indigenous women and girls who proudly wear and honour their own cultural dress. The intent now is to use this one moment of prejudice, racism and discrimination as a springboard from which we can encourage understanding, respect and reconciliation. We thank Isabella, her family, the leadership and community for their strength and determination to turn this challenge into a positive experience.

Kinanâskomitin. Thank you.

Hon. Mary Jane McCallum moved second reading of Bill S-219, An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day.

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to second reading of Bill S-219, which would establish January 4 of each and every year as “National Ribbon Skirt Day.” Through this bill, Canada would have the opportunity to further their understanding and education of Indigenous culture and heritage — specifically the ribbon skirt, which is a symbolic piece of clothing used in Indigenous tradition and ceremony.

I want to thank Chief George Cote of the Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan, as well as Isabella Kulak and her family, for their strength and determination in being who they are and their ways of being and knowing.

Colleagues, this bill represents an initiative that is very meaningful to many Indigenous people and communities across the country. Chief Cote of Cote First Nation, the home of Isabella Kulak, shared this statement with my office:

On behalf of Cote First Nation, we are honored to have January 4^th as National Ribbon Skirt Day across our great Nation. Bella Kulak has demonstrated the importance of sharing our culture to other nations. Our First Nations, Metis, Inuit women are a symbol of life givers and their resilience in looking after the home fires is our strength to move forward. We thank Senator McCallum for bringing forward such a recognition and encourage all Parliamentarians to offer their support for this bill in the year of Truth and Reconciliation. Meegwetch from the Saulteaux First Nations of Treaty 4 Territory.

Honourable senators, I would now like to read a statement that was sent to my office by Isabella Kulak herself, the 10-year-old girl whose bravery and resolve turned an unfortunate incident into a platform for change through understanding and education. Ms. Kulak said:

Dear Senator McCallum

My name is Isabella Susanne Kulak and I would like to start off by telling you what the ribbon skirt means to me. The ribbon skirt represents strength, resiliency, cultural identity and womanhood. When I wear my ribbon skirt I feel confident and proud to be a young indigenous girl.

When I was 8 years old I was gifted my very own ribbon skirt from my auntie Farrah Sanderson. I wore it with pride and honor to my traditional ceremonies and pow wow’s. On December 18^th 2020 it was formal day at Kamsack Comprehensive Institute where I attend school, so I chose to wear my ribbon skirt just like my older sister Gerri. When I got to school a teacher assistant commented on it and said it didn’t even match my shirt and maybe next formal day I should wear something else like another girl was wearing and pointed at her. Those words made me feel pressured to be someone I am not. I eventually took off my skirt as I felt shamed.

Today I no longer feel shamed and I feel proud and powerful enough to move mountains because I know that people from around the world are standing with me. I am very grateful to be Canadian, to be Indian and to represent my people by wearing my ribbon skirt proudly! Thank you to Senator McCallum and to all the people who supported me from around the world, from Canada and from all the First Nations across the nations of the earth.

Sincerely Isabella

I want to thank Isabella for taking the time to provide such a profound statement so that her voice can be incorporated as part of the public record. Isabella, I want to tell you that there are senators wearing their ribbon skirts, both on the floor and those attending virtually, and that we stand behind you.

I would also like to thank Chief John Dorion from Kaministikominahiko-skak Cree Nation, or KCN, who wrote to our office to support the request to establish Ribbon Skirt Day on January 4.

Colleagues, Bill S-219, while another step down the path to reconciliation, comes in response to an incident that occurred last December. As Chief Dorion stated:

Just before Christmas in 2020, a school in Kamsack, Saskatchewan was protested because a 10-year old student [Isabella Kulak] was shamed because she wore her ribbon skirt to school. After the shaming and due to hurt feelings, she went home, she took off her skirt and acted withdrawn. As a result of breaking news on the issue, the 10-year old has received support far and wide receiving skirts arriving from around the world. The young girl went back to school with members of her family wearing ribbon skirts and was drummed into the school. The division’s education director admitted that the incident was a major error and accepted full responsibility for what happened. Since then, the Good Spirit School Division has apologized for what was believed to be racially motivated.

Chief Dorion goes on to say:

Research shows that the ribbon skirt is a symbol of womanhood and its’ reflective of our identity and other Turtle Island Nations. The skirt is also sacred, spiritual and political. It gives strength to our young people and it reminds us that we are not alone and we are connected to our communities and generations of ancestors who are with us at all times.

Colleagues, in the article “The Ribbon Skirt: Symbol of surviving cultural genocide” by Kelly Anne Smith, she interviews Tala Tootoosis, a Nakota Sioux, Plains Cree and Mohawk woman, about her healing journey. Miss Tootoosis is a social worker, addictions counsellor, motivational speaker, partner, daughter and mother. She states:

We are not submissive. We are not quiet. We are not waiting for our Indian Warrior to come and save us. Or our prince to come and save us. We are waking up. We’re getting up. We are taking care of our kids. We are getting degrees. We’re getting sober. We’re learning to sew, bead, quilt, paint, sing, dance, everything again.

We’re learning to heal. We’re lawyers. We’re doctors. We’re judges. And at the same time, we are women. We are capable of carrying life, creating life, with or without a man. But at the same time remembering the balance. The man has a purpose and we create a balance together.

She continues, stating that ribbon skirt teachings are not about a woman learning not to get raped:

It’s teaching them to be empowered and that they already are resilient. Women already have power. A woman is protection because she is a woman. And when you have that understanding you learn boundaries.

Tootoosis states the ribbon skirt is almost a declaration of being a survivor of attempted genocide.

They tried to murder my grandmother. They cut her hair. They tried to beat and rape the language out of her. But she still taught me that it’s okay to wear a skirt. She told me she was so proud of me. She was able to say that from her own lips. That’s resilience. That’s power.

She continues by saying that the power is in the ribbon skirt:

You could be on your first day sober and put on the ribbon skirt and remember you are not what happened to you.

Honourable senators, this bill aims to provide social justice for Bella and other young Indigenous youth who must struggle against racism, colonialism and gender violence in their day-to-day lives. By keeping this request for a national day of recognition situated within a framework generated from and led by the Cote reserve, it ensures that the families’ and communities’ tradition and intergenerational knowledge is secure while they’re navigating modern Indigenous struggles. This also helps to resist the colonial images of Indigenous women, girls and transgender peoples.

The acts of resistance by women — including mothers, aunts, grandmothers, sisters and friends — against ongoing violence and colonialism is very important, as their resistive acts are models for young Indigenous girls. They are acts against cultural genocide. Both mother and daughter are no longer willing to leave their spirits at the door and are ready to take that challenge to a different level that is bringing ceremony to everyday living, not only in their home but taking it to the outside world.

In her paper Red Intersectionality and Violence-Informed Witnessing Praxis with Indigenous Girls, Natalie Clark quotes Madeline Dion Stout in her powerful memoir of residential schools. Within this, she describes how Dr. Stout’s parents’ resilience is working through her now and how even her triggers give her life. She said:

Their resilience became mine. It had come from their mothers and fathers and now must spill over to my grandchildren and their grandchildren.

This knowledge transfer of resistance and activism to youth is vital and it’s ongoing. According to Natalie Clark’s paper, she states:

Zitkala-Sa and other Indigenous feminists remind us again and again in their writing that violence has always been gendered, aged, and linked to access to land.

Honourable senators, acts of resistance inform the Indigenous struggle for self-determination. Although Bella might have been unaware of her activism, she has already committed to actions that were anticolonial and focused on the goals of transformation and liberation — free to express her cultural heritage and make people worldwide aware that she’s helping to transform the colonial picture of Indigenous youth.

In the words of Indigenous scholar Linda Tuhwai Smith:

Storytelling, oral histories, the perspectives of Elders and of women have become an integral part of all indigenous research. Each individual story is powerful. But the point about the stories is not that they simply tell a story, or tell a story simply. These new stories contribute to a collective story in which every indigenous person has a place.

By doing what she did, Bella’s story is providing space in which girls can be seen in the circle and allows the world to better understand her experience of violence. Her act of resistance and education is medicine for her and other youth, and allows them to practise from a safe space.

Natalie Clark goes on to say she and her mother-in-law:

. . . were discussing Indigenous girls who are strong, resilient young women in spite of the violence, abuse, and ongoing colonial legacy that surrounds them. Together we questioned what made the difference in the girls who managed to navigate the “colonialscape” (Hunt 2014:1) of adolescence and those who struggled. We both identified that in the health of the girls we knew the key role was played by their connection to culture and language and identity, as well as by their strong female role models, including Elders.

Honourable senators, Bella is to be commended for fostering a healthy resistance strategy and activism through wearing her ribbon skirt. I would also like to commend her parents, Chris and Lana Kulak, who have fostered these admirable values in not only Bella but in all of their daughters. Chris and Lana Kulak also provided a statement to my office regarding the ordeal that their daughter Bella endured.

Dear Senator McCallum,

It is with great humility and honor that my family makes comment on the events regarding the shaming of my daughter Isabella Susanne Kulak of Cote First Nations Saskatchewan.

It has been a long road for the First Nations people of Canada since the landing of European peoples on our great shores. Much has happened since that has been of great insult and injury to many people in this country of Indigenous descent, and much of it to do with race and interpretation of what it means to be Canadian AND Indigenous.

Through the events that led to my daughter receiving National and International attention in regards to her wearing of her sacred traditional attire (her Ribbon Skirt) to school and her subsequent shaming by her teacher’s aide, we have come to a great crossroads that all of us as Canadians must recognize and come to terms with together as the great nation we are. We must face down and defeat the mighty enemy we call Racism and Intolerance. There is no time like the present to evoke change that will ultimately change the course of the history of Canada’s relationship with the people who are the original Landlords, the First Nations People across this country.

Our hope in all of this is that all Canadians see the relevance of what has occurred, and that this forever define what is truly unacceptable in our public institutions and our society as a whole. We as a family feel a great sense of responsibility to all Canadians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to create a safe space and a dialogue that will continue on in a mutual respect between nations that lasts for generations. The creation and discussion around Bill S-219 has brought hope that these discussions lead to a greater sense of pride for all our country’s Indigenous peoples, and foremost a greater sense of urgency as it pertains to the reconciliation process and the decolonization of Canada.

In the words of the great artist Alex Janvier of my home province of Alberta, a true beacon of hope and perseverance and testament to the resiliency of Indigenous peoples of Canada, ‘The Original Landlords have returned to take back control of these lands. The Earth is us and we are the Earth.’ As a residential school survivor and a true warrior in the battle for equality Alex has shown us through his art what is possible when you never give up even when told that certain things are not possible. He and Bella have shown that anything is in fact possible.

For all the people in this country who have lived through racial intolerance and fought to preserve the inherent rights of Indigenous people, we thank you as a family and as a First Nation. I am proud that my Bella is so supported by so many in this country and around the world, and it is our hope that all of this will evoke the change that is necessary to achieve true respect between nations and between peoples that reside here as Canadians.

‘Bella The Brave’ is how I refer to my daughter and this has instilled a fiery resolve in all my daughters and my beautiful wife Lana who I love and respect very much. My family has taught me so much about what it means to be a daddy and a husband, and the Ribbon Skirt with it’s sacred cultural teachings and spirituality has galvanized us to be true change makers in our community and our country. I thank all of the Native and Metis people as well as our Inuit family who fought so hard for so long to preserve and maintain our cultural traditions and identity. Without the sacrifice of our ancestors the Ribbon Skirt may have been lost long ago, and this National Ribbon Skirt Day is not only a testament to “Bella The Brave” but to all the brave warriors who came before her that never cease to amaze us when we read about them and the many obstacles that they faced every day of their lives because they were Indian. Let us always remember this National Ribbon Skirt Day as a true showing of the cultural and spiritual identity that is intertwined in the seams of the garment and the sacred hands that make them!

Kici Miigwetch — A great big thank you,

Christopher & Lana Kulak

Cote First Nations — Kamsack Saskatchewan Canada.

Honourable senators, sacred stories move us deeply. They change us and bring us closer together. There are two essential elements of sacred stories. These powerful vehicles tell us about ourselves and in that way transform us while simultaneously connecting us to our fellow human beings. We are aware that some profound lesson has been imparted. As we continue to search for ways to heal ourselves, each other and Mother Earth, stories and storytelling will continue to flourish.

Colleagues, as listeners and receivers of the sacred story of Isabella Kulak, we in Canada become essential partners in her resistance against the colonial presentation of Indigenous girls. This bill, colleagues, is very short and very straightforward. Although being recognized federally, national ribbon skirt day would not be a legal holiday or a non-juridical holiday. To me, this bill is not only a helpful and important initiative of reconciliation; it is also nonconfrontational in its nature, scope and goal. It is my hope that debate on this can be swift and that ideally when the time comes we can reach agreement to have second and third reading votes occur back to back without jeopardizing this bill by sending it to committee, where it may face a prohibitive wait time.

Honourable senators, I urge all parliamentarians to join me in supporting this bill and this young girl who feels proud and powerful enough to move mountains because people from around the world are standing with her. Let’s also stand with her. It shows that we collectively support youth through the healthy transitions into adulthood. We need to offer them support to resist stereotypes and to replace this with strong and affirming messages and images of themselves. This includes naming and challenging negative cultural messages and abuse of power in society. Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Duncan, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Mary Jane McCallum introduced Bill S-219, An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day.

(Bill read first time.)