​This Jan. 4 marks the inaugural National Ribbon Skirt Day in Canada, a day celebrating Indigenous women and their traditional regalia and culture.

National Ribbon Skirt Day begins with the story of Isabella Kulak, an Indigenous girl from Saskatchewan, who wore a traditional ribbon skirt to her school in 2020 when she was 10-years-old and was told it wasn't formal and she couldn't wear it.

The movement started by Kulak grew to a national scale, with the goal of inspiring other Indigenous women, of all ages, to be proud of what they wear, and who they are, and to be themselves.

Jamie Smallboy, lead of the Red Ribbon Skirt Project in Vancouver, is from Maskwacis, Alberta and has had her fair share of experiencing Indigenous racism growing up.

Smallboy ended up losing touch with her culture, she says, until she was in Vancouver and found herself through a Women's Memorial March. The experience led her to rediscover who she really was and helped her express her true self and heritage once again.

National Ribbon Skirt Day was passed unanimously into law by parliament last month after first being introduced by Dr. Mary Jane McCallum, an Indigenous senator from Manitoba, in 2021.

​Listen to the full CFWE Interview below with Jamie Smallboy: