tansi ninôtemik,
While our team was away enjoying the last few days of our winter break and preparing for the upcoming semester, an important nationally recognized occasion passed. January 4th, 2025 marked the third annual National Ribbon Skirt Day!
National Ribbon Skirt Day was born out of the widespread outrage from an experience faced by Isabella Kulak, a 10-year-old Anishinaabe girl from the Cote First Nation. On “formal dress day” at her elementary school, where students were asked to wear special clothing, Isabella wore a ribbon skirt to school. Isabella was excited to wear a very special blue and green ribbon skirt made by her Aunt Farrah to school. When Isabella was not wearing her ribbon skirt when she arrived home from school, her mother knew something was wrong. Sadly, Isabella was shamed by a teaching assistant for wearing a ribbon skirt, and was told that her attire “didn’t match” and “was not formal at all.”[1]
After Isabella’s mother told her sisters about the incident, a family member posted about the incident on Facebook. Isabella’s story quickly went viral across social media. The Kulak family began receiving messages, support, and a “stunning” collection of Ribbon Skirts from across the Nation.[2] The incident also led to a school march and a widespread movement for awareness and recognition of the cultural significance of the ribbon skirt. Eventually, “An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day”, championed by Senator Mary Jane McCallum, was enacted in Parliament on December 15, 2022, forever recognizing January 4th as National Ribbon Skirt Day.[3]
Making and wearing Ribbon Skirts has been a tradition for many Indigenous groups across Turtle Island for hundreds of years.[4] Even though the modes and materials have changed over the years, Ribbon Skirts remain a powerful symbol of womanhood and identity, of strength and resilience in the face of colonial ethnocide, and of “empowerment through traditional regalia.”[5]
ekosi.
The ReconciliACTION Team
[1] “The Power of One: 10-Year-Old Isabella Kulak’s Ribbon Skirt Shines Bright Global Spotlight on Racial Intolerance,” KCI-NIWESQ - Native Women’s Association of Canada Magazine (2 March 2021), online: <issuu.com> [perma.cc/8QWX-YQWC].
[2] Ibid.
[3] Bill S-219, An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day, 1st Sess, 44th Parl, 2022, c 16; Native Women’s Association of Canada, “Celebration Tradition: native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) Unveils Ribbon Skirt Exhibit for National Ribbon Skirt Day” (4 January 2024), online: <nwac.ca> [perma.cc/7YXN-TAUQ].
[4] Supra note 1; Lindsey Bark, “Threads Through Time: Ribbon Skirt” Cherokee Phoenix (23 May 2023) online: <cherokeephoenix.org> [perma.cc/V55R-X8M9]
[5] Supra note 3.
[Image] Hafsa Arif/CTV News, “10-year-old Cote First Nation girl inspires ribbon skirt social media movement,” CTV News, (31 December 2020), online: <regina.ctvnews.ca> [perma.cc/7QAF-ZYWA].
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