Today is National Aboriginal Day and Estevan celebrated with a free BBQ and celebration at Centennial Park. It was a chance for everyone to come together to celebrate a culture that was at one time suppressed. 

"I'm Metis. I am still learning about some of my culture and heritage," explained Dawn Marie Sloan-Beahm. "Because there was so much bigotry, my grandmother, growing up didn't really want to teach us anything specific about it so I've had to learn as an adult."

"It's just very sad that she didn't feel that she was able to share. She spoke Cree as well as Michif and didn't feel like she was wanted to teach me any of it because she was afraid it would be detrimental for me to know that."

Michif is a Metis language that is a mix of Cree and French. It is slowly dying due to the increment of French. In 1991, there were 840 Michif speakers, however, it is difficult to say how many speak it now because the Canadian census in 2001 did not have Michif as a language of choice. 

She added that while CUPE organized the event, they asked her to come with her collection of Aboriginal artifacts.

"There are different replicas of First Nations items from all over North America so they're not necessarily representative of a particular tribe or group." 

As well, there was a collection of red dresses set up to represent the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Traditional Aboriginal dancer and Metis jiggers also preformed.