Youngsters take in Dane-Zaa culture during annual Doig Day event

ROSE PRAIRIE, B.C. — A clear, warm spring day welcomed fourth graders as they took in an annual cultural event hosted by Doig River First Nation (DRFN).

What began in the 1970s in a classroom has become a large-scale event, as schools from around the region spend a day at DRFN’s territory at the annual Doig Day on Thursday, May 28th.

Doig Day is now an annual event on school district calendars. DRFN will celebrate its 50th anniversary at the 2027 event.

It began with just 10 students in Upper Pine Middle School in Rose Prairie. By some estimates, 400 kids take part in the event each year.

There were stations dedicated to hunting and trapping, smoking meat, preparing a moose hide to use for materials such as clothing and drums, making bannock, learning the Dane-zaa or Beaver alphabet and even taking in a game of antler toss and more.

Lena Hockman was busy showing students the process of fleshing, the first stage of preparing a moose hide, which is done with a tool called a flesher to scrape excess fat and skin off the hide.

“For me, [this is] really inspiring,” said Hockman to Energeticcity.ca. “I see all these little kids coming to learn and wanting [to ask] questions.”

“Just being able to show what my culture does makes me really, really happy.”

While elementary school students were scattered among the various stations, Energeticcity.ca caught up with some kids immersed in learning different aspects of the Dane-Zaa life.

Liam Willson is a student at École Central Elementary, and already has a grasp on what he was eager to see more of.

“I’m looking forward to the moose and how they do everything like tan it,” said Willson.

Other students had already learned about making bannock and drying meat, such as Willson’s classmate Emberly Cobb.

“I’m excited about learning about a lot of stuff,” said Cobb. “We have already learned about how we dry the meat and how we make bannock.”

DRFN’s Doig Day took place on Thursday, May 28th, in Rose Prairie on the territory of Doig River First Nation.