The Deep Freeze Festival was held in the Alberta Avenue district over the weekend, with lots of multicultural events taking place. One of those events was the Pipon Village, an Indigenous area of the festival where tea and Bannock were being served, Indigenous crafts were being handed out, and Indigenous artifacts were on display.

One of the exhibits was a sacred smudging art exhibit. Doreen Cardinal, assistant coordinator of Pipon Village, ran the smudge exhibit where people could come in and learn about the art of smudge. The smudge exhibit featured tobacco, cedar, sweetgrass, and sage: the sage was lit up in the middle of the exhibit for demonstration and for newcomers to try smudge for themselves.

Cardinal said she wanted "the public to learn more about their culture," and she was very delighted with how many people came and the high interest in smudging.

"It's pretty important to share who we are, what we do, and [to share] one of our traditional ways of life in the Treaty 6 territory," she said.

Deep Freeze was the first festival in Edmonton for 2023. With many more on the way, Cardinal said she's interested in bringing this smudge exhibit to other festivals in the city in the near future.

Listen to the full CFWE Interview below with Doreen Cardinal: