Celebrating First Nations with a win
Miss Manawan and Princess Manawan spoke to the crowd during the first intermission and represented their community and their culture during First People’s Celebration Night. Olivier Cadotte The Eastern Door
The Montreal Canadiens solidified their playoff spot on Saturday night, thanks to the performance of a certain Mister Saturday Night, Cole Caufield, as he recorded a hat trick and added two assists in a 7-3 win over the New York Islanders.
The usually raucous crowd of the Bell Centre had a few special guests for the occasion, as the Canadiens celebrated First People’s Celebration night, inviting members of communities like Manawan, Lac-Simon Anishnabe Nation, Mashteuiatsh, and Kahnawake to come and see the game and participate in other activities like skating on the Bell Centre’s ice.
Through an online draw done by the Sports and Recreation Unit (SRU), and with help from the Kahnawake Minor Hockey Association, 15 community members from Kahnawake were able to skate on the Bell Centre’s ice and 20 tickets were given in total for the game.
“Overall, it was just a really great experience for the youth that were in attendance and those that were able to skate on the ice,” said SRU director Roiatate Horn, who was also in attendance for the skate and the game.
Family members of the skaters were also allowed to attend, filling out a portion of the arena’s lower bowl and adding to the ambiance.
It was the second time Horn has gotten to skate on the Bell Centre ice, the first coming as a referee for a Canadiens fantasy camp day.
“It’s always special when you get a chance to skate there. It’s almost overwhelming to step onto the ice and see that many people there and that many seats available,” said Horn.
The youth skaters were in awe of the size of the Bell Centre from this new vantage point, he said.
“When they stepped on the ice, their first five minutes, they were just looking up at the ceiling and looking up at the seats and just taking it in on how big the place is,” said Horn.
This initiative from the Canadiens is a result of the almost two-year partnership between the team and the SRU.
“It started off with how we can work a little bit closer together, seeing that we’re one of the closest Indigenous communities to them, and it’s blossomed into a real respectful back and forth partnership between their office and our office,” said Horn.
“Whenever we engage with these type of partners, we let them know that they are entering a long-term commitment to work with us and work with our community members, and the Canadians so far have delivered on that.”
Also at the Bell Centre as part of First People’s Celebration Night was Kahnawa’kehró:non chef Ryland Diome and his Screaming Chef Cuisine project, who was a special guest food vendor in the arena’s M2 Market.
“I feel very proud that we have Mohawk representation here, that we have representation from Kahnawake, that Kahnawa’kehró:non can come here and they can say we’re going to eat at the Mohawk restaurant in the Bell Centre,” said Diome.
“I don’t take it lightly. Yes, it’s great for my brand to be here. Of course, it is a great experience for me. But really, what makes me feel the best about it is being the person to represent the nation.”
Screaming Chef Cuisine was serving Indigenous flavours, including bison nachos, loaded bison potato skins, sumac and corn fried shrimp, and peppers stuffed with bison, beans, and rice.
“I was trying to use as many Indigenous ingredients as possible. I think the only non-Indigenous ingredient we really have is cheese,” said Diome.
“A lot of these ingredients could be looked at as being maybe being Canadian or American. I think what’s important to remember is that much of our culture has been appropriated, and that includes the food.”
Diome said that using these ingredients was also a good opportunity to educate both the cooks in the back with him and some of the customers on Indigenous ingredients.
He worked alongside the Bell Centre’s team of chefs to develop the menu, including both items he has done before at his restaurant and suggestions from the Bell Centre chefs based on 13 menu ideas from Diome.
“Chef Yves, the big chef here, leaned into the bison items more because you don’t get that everywhere,” said Diome.
Being able to share his work with non-Indigenous people was fun, but to him, the best part was seeing all the people from Kahnawake come by, say hi to him, and try his food.
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“Somebody from town can come here and be like, ‘let’s go to Ryland’s, the Mohawk restaurant tonight. Let’s get indigenous ingredients.’ It’s really cool, really rewarding, and it reminds me why I’m doing this,” said Diome.
Horn enjoyed his meal from Diome and was very glad that he got that kind of opportunity from the Canadiens.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them do that,” said Horn.
“He’s been a big supporter of us on social media, with the stuff that we’re doing with the snack bar. We were looking at making sure that we support him as much as possible as well. So, it was really cool to see that happen.”
The Canadiens’ First People’s Celebration Night also featured a custom logo from multidisciplinary Atikamekw Nehirowisiw artist Terry Randy Awashish, from the Opitciwan community, and 25 percent of sales of merchandise with the logo was donated to the Regroupement des centres d’amitié autochtones du Québec (RCAAQ). At time of writing, the figure donated was unavailable.
During the first intermission, Miss Manawan and Princess Manawan were interviewed on the big screen, and given seats in the press box to watch the game.
