Presentations of dance, music, prose and song are planned for the new Aldergrove Plaza, following the annual Canada Day Parade, July 1.
The event will be the first to take place at the plaza which is located on the former site of the Alder Inn.
Organizer Karen Long said Kwantlen First Nation and Matsqui peoples will open to talk about our mutual relationships of the lands we all occupy.
Also on the program to address the audience is Cst. Troy Derrick – a proud member of the Gitxsan First Nation hereditary leadership and a member of the Surrey RCMP under the First Nations Policing Unit.
“His talk will leave the listener with a feeling of empowerment, enlightenment and a better social understanding,” said Shyama-Priya – a First Nations dance instructor who will perform with The Wild Moccasin Dancers – a dynamic dance duo that display the beauty and vibrancy of pow wow culture through dance.
READ MORE: Canada Day parade in Aldergrove set to go ahead
Korean drummer and dancer Ms Yong Joo Kim will join Polynesian dancer Angela Tagi as part of the presentation along with a performance of the traditional dances of India.
A Korean six drum finale will conclude the event.
“The presentations are to celebrate the diversity that is Canada!” added Long. “And all this will take place following the Canada Day parade on the newly developed community plaza located on where the Alder Inn Hotel once stood.”
The annual parade is proceeding in an extended form, over six kilometres long it will allow plenty of room for families to gather socially distanced along the route.
The parade will start at approximately 9:45 a.m. at Aldergrove secondary school on 29th Ave, proceed west to 264th, then east along 32nd Ave, to Station Road and then west again on 28th Ave back to the starting point.
“Aldergrove has embraced the opportunity to invite our First Nation neighbours and focus with them on understanding and reconciliation to make this Canada Day special,” Long explained.
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