Youth finds PAGC bison scraping event fascinating

He said he worked the smaller blue rope, threading it through holes in the hide and helping tighten the hide as much as he could.

“It’s honestly pretty fun,” Gabriel said. He didn’t see it as a test of strength. “I just think of it — it’s helping.”

Even the flies circling the hide did not seem to bother him.

“No,” Gabriel said when asked whether he was grossed out. “They’re helping us flesh it.”

He planned to keep going, including fleshing the hide with bones later in the day. He acknowledged the work would be hard, but said it would be easier with others helping.

That sense of shared effort was exactly what organizers hoped young people would take from the open-door event.

Rhonda Roberts, program organizer, said the day was designed include as many people as wanted to come out. showcase the program and introduce more young people to its activities.

“We’ve invited the community of Prince Albert to come in for a BBQ and a bison hide scraping,” Roberts said. “We’re always got our doors open for them.”

Roberts said the program works with First Nations and Indigenous youth between the ages of 11 and 18, aiming to keep them learning, growing and connected to skills they can carry into the future.

Before eating, the youth sang a drum song.

For Gabriel, that openness was the chance to try something new and the teamwork around the frame, and in the feeling that even hard work could be fun when everyone pulled together.

Roberts hopes to make the event annual and attract even more youth in upcoming years to the PAGC Cultural Centre on the west side of the city.

“In the future, maybe one of our youth is going to come across something and say, hey, I remember I learned that back at YES,” she said.

Hide stretching wasn’t the only thing happening. A youth drum group had a song and the attendees got to eat free barbecued hotdog lunch.

This is the first year they have opened the camp to any youth who wanted to attend.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Youth finds PAGC bison scraping event fascinating

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