By David P. Ball
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Coast Salish elder Kat Norris had an unusually busy weekend, but for the Lyackson First Nation member that's hardly unusual in January.
For 13 years, Norris has started each new year with an annual event cooking, giving away hundreds of pieces of frybread, sandwiches and soup in the Downtown Eastside. And as she's continued the tradition, she's been joined by a growing roster of volunteers — this year's event attracted up to 40 helpers.
The neighbourhood has been especially hard-hit by the pandemic and the economic downturn it caused, as fatal overdoses and poverty skyrocket. It made this year's frybread event even more important for both hunger, and social connection in an isolating time. Many people received their frybread for the first time by delivery to those forced to isolate.
"We're all struggling in different ways, we're struggling to make ends meet," Norris told The Pulse on CFRO. "But we live on hope."
For her, the give away is done in memory of Frank Paul, an Indigenous man who died of hypothermia in Vancouver after being left on the street by police officers in 1998. But over the years, the event has also become a celebration of the vibrant community spirit its volunteers have found in the Downtown Eastside.
It's as much an act of pride as of protest against injustices, Norris explained.
And that's the spirit behind Norris' second event of the same weekend. This year's hours of baking and frying came on the heels of her also organizing a rally Saturday in Vancouver in solidarity with a 10-year-old Saskatchewan girl — from Cote First Nation — who was told her Indigenous traditional ribbon skirt was unacceptable as formal wear at her school prom.
That's sparked colourful protests worldwide, and celebrations of the ribbon skirt as a symbol of pride, resilience and resistance to racism, Norris said.
"With that history in our hearts, when we heard about this happening, it was very upsetting to us," she said. "This shouldn't happen in today's day...We should be more compassionate. With COVID happening, we should be more compassionate.
"We had to take a stand for ourselves, and to stand up for this girl. In standing up for her, it's our show of activism. Our ribbon skirts have become our activism," Norris said.