Photo of: Jordan Bennett with his art creation on Dewdney Avenue in Regina
Photo by: Danielle Dufour
By: Danielle Dufour
Jordon Bennett, an artist and member of the Flat Bay Indian Band, travelled from Newfoundland after being invited to Regina by Lorne BigEagle to create this art piece to honour the Buffalo.
“Here on Tatanga Day it’s an absolute honour to come out and do that,” said Bennett. “Being from the east and not having Buffalo in our territory, I was thinking of the way I can honour the Buffalo. My wife is from northern Alberta, so our kids come from the Buffalo people, so I was like, how can I honour the spirit of the Buffalo to thank them for my kids.”
He utilized porcupine quill designs and thought of ways the porcupine could honour the Buffalo.
“In this piece you’ll see lots of designs that are based on our constellation, based on the seasons, our beliefs and central to this piece is fire giving live and birth to so many things,” said Bennett. “That stems into the blueberries. Where I grew up, I used to pick blueberries with my grandmother a lot.”
Regina-based non-profit organization, Buffalo People Arts Institute, along with partners, are leading a renaming initiative and are inviting residents to reimagine Dewdney Avenue as Tatanga Avenue.
Tatanga means Buffalo in Nakota/Lakota/Dakota.
Dewdney Avenue was named after Edgar Dewdney, a late 19th-century Canadian politician and Indian Commissioner. In an effort to impose state authority on the First Nations population, Dewdney withheld food rations during famine to compel First Nations people to settle on reserves, sign treaties and send their children to residential schools.
Prior to Dewdney’s actions, the settlers had killed approximately 50 million buffalo on the prairies for food, sport and to deny Indigenous people of their most valuable asset.
The Buffalo People Arts Institute want to see the street be renamed to reflect the values and identities of all citizens.
“To be able to come here and do something that’s outside of the colonial framework that we celebrate this country, and to not even really have that come in your mind on a day like today,” said Bennett, “To decolonize this holiday and to bring it back to the land, to the streets where the people are.”