International Women’s Day is coming and the Westbank First Nation, Summerland and Peachland councillors are inviting the community to honour Okanagan women for their contribution to the care of water, land and healthy communities.
UBCO Indigenous educators, climate change activists and Peachland and Westbank farming pioneers will also be at the event.
The Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance and Westbank First Nation are co-hosting the event. They said there will be song and dance performances, games, crafts, and storytelling. Singers from Westbank First Nation Delphine Derickson and Heather Pawsey will perform excerpts from the 1952 opera “The Lake” by Canadian composer Barbara Pentland.
The afternoon will open with a smudging ceremony and English tea, along with Indigenous foods including “Trappers’ tea”, sweet and savoury bannock, bison sliders, fruit leather and trail mix.
The event will end with a Syilx water ceremony, with a reading of the 204 Okanagan Nation Alliance Syilx Water Declaration.
The celebration will be from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 8. Tickets are available via Eventbrite, or at the door.
READ: Okanagan chefs come together for International Women’s Day fundraiser
