Six-month-old Annora Crowe is helped by her mother Kimisha-Ann Capissisit and grandmother Angela Ottereyes at her Walking Out Ceremony, a traditional ceremony welcoming a Cree baby's first steps on the earth, on Parliament Hill on Wednesday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Six-month-old Annora Crowe held her parents’ hands as she emerged from a teepee under the shadow of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on Wednesday and took her first steps.
Annora and her parents walked around a small tree placed on top of pine and cedar boughs as elder Sarah Ottereyes performed a welcoming song.
The baby, wearing a ribbon skirt and carrying a replica axe, was at the centre of a historic event marking the first Cree “walking out” ceremony ever to be held on Parliament Hill.
The ceremony is held to mark the moment when a Cree child takes their first supported steps on the land after being held by their relatives for every moment of their life since birth.
“Ceremonies like this are not from the past. They’re a living part of culture, they’re a living part of community,” said Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, who helped to organize the historic event.
“It is alive within community, it is alive within our children, and it will continue to bring families together forward in the future.”
Six-month-old Annora Crowe took her first steps on the land during a Cree walking out ceremony on Parliament Hill. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty says the James Bay Cree Ceremony introduces Annora as a new member of the community with purpose, identity and belonging.
The Canadian Press
Annora seemed eager to get her feet on the ground, bouncing in excitement as she exited the teepee’s eastern door as the sun rose, with a handful of cabinet ministers, Indigenous leaders and dozens of community members there to witness it.
Guided by her mother Kimisha-Ann Capisisit, father Marcus Perusse-Crowe and grandmother Angela Ottereyes, Annora gathered pine boughs to lay on the teepee’s floor, as women traditionally do to keep their families warm.
When she returned to the teepee, community members were welcomed in to visit with her and Annora shared food with them.
Algonquin elder Jane Chartrand told The Canadian Press it was an honour for the entire Algonquin nation to host the family on their territory.
“We are standing on where our village used to be,” Chartrand said, adding the land itself was also ready to welcome Annora as an earthquake rattled through the city on Tuesday.
“She was used to the drum because she was dancing, and for me, as an old woman, it made my heart soar because it’s just so beautiful and so traditional.”
Annora’s family was joined by Gull-Masty, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty, Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal MP Jaime Battiste, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak and dozens of others.
Chartrand, who is Anishinaabe, Inninew and Métis, performed a hand drum song as people entered the teepee.
“I was really proud that so many people came this morning to share this special moment,” Gull-Masty said after the ceremony wrapped, calling it a learning experience for the department she leads.
The department was tasked with helping to cut the teepee poles, preparing the regalia worn by the family and sourcing pine boughs.
“It’s a totally different concept to hold a ceremony instead of having a political event, and I’m really proud of them and the work that they did,” she said.
Woodhouse Nepinak called Annora the “future First Nations prime minister” on social media Wednesday.
“Our children are so precious,” she wrote. “She will be influential in Ottawa as she grows and finds her strength for all our people.”