Update: This story has been udpdated to add a comment from the premier’s office.
A photo being shared on social media of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wearing a traditional First Nations ribbon skirt is causing a stir in the Indigenous community.
The photo shows Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP), at a college in northern Alberta last week wearing a blue blazer and matching ribbon skirt.
“I was shocked,” said Kathy Hamelin, who posted the photo along with a message chastising the premier on her Facebook page.
“And my first thought was, ‘Why is she wearing a ribbon skirt?’”
The photo was originally posted on the Facebook page of Northern Lakes College where Smith visited the Slave Lake campus, 255 km north of Edmonton. The college has since turned off comments on the post.
The UCP said Smith has been gifted several ribbon skirts, including the one in the photo, that she usually wears to meetings with members of Treaty 8 First Nations in Alberta.
“The premier typically wears a ribbon skirt at all Treaty meetings she attends given the significance of these meetings,” said her press secretary Sam Blackett in an emailed statement to APTN News.
“The premier’s office is not aware of any controversy surrounding her ribbon skirt.”
The skirts are usually worn by First Nations women to special events.
Michelle Robinson of the Native Calgarian podcast says being Dene, she doesn’t have the same issues with Smith wearing a ribbon skirt as Hamelin.
And while she doesn’t like the idea of “skirt shaming”, Robinson feels Smith’s wardrobe choice was “performative”.
Hamelin, who is a member of Whitefish Cree Nation and lives in Edmonton, said ribbon skirts are sacred and shouldn’t be worn by just anyone.
She accused Smith of violating the “natural laws” of the Cree people.
“Iynîsiwin (wisdom) provides intelligent and compassionate leadership; requiring us to ensure all individuals within our communities, are well cared for.”
She also suggested the UCP government has put forth several policies that disrespect Indigenous peoples, such as the lack of consultation on legislation to make it easier for citizens to advance a separation referendum that would threaten First Nations treaties.
Skirt shaming has become a hot topic in Indigenous circles. It happens when Indigenous women are criticized for wearing a ribbon skirt by non-Indigenous people.
The issue was elevated in the national consciousness when a young First Nations girl in Saskatchewan, Isabella Kulak, was criticized by a member of school staff in Kamsack for wearing a ribbon skirt to a “formal day” in 2020.
The incident sparked a national movement by Indigenous women and girls, and prompted the federal government to enact the “National Ribbon Skirt Day Act” in December 2022. It is now celebrated every year on Jan. 4. as an act of reconciliation.
On its website, the Indigenous Perspectives Society says ribbon skirts are “powerful ceremony and should be respected as such. Skirts can be offered as gifts. If you are a non-Indigenous person wishing to wear a ribbon skirt, it is strongly recommended that you take time to reflect and to think about why that is and if it is the most considered course of action.”
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Tags: Alberta Premier, Cree, Danielle Smith, Dene, First Nation, Indigenous, Isabella Kulak, Northern Lakes Colllege, Ribbon skirt, skirt-shaming, Slave Lake, UCP
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