As the first note of a prayer song sounded in the Memorial Union ballroom, this year’s Indigenous Peoples Day celebration was officially underway. And, while Indigenous people were at the center of the celebration, the message of human connection — and each person’s responsibility to maintain it — was what seemed to resonate.
Hosted by the Indigenous Student Center, the program opened with a welcome from Director Keith Malaterre and UND’s Land Acknowledgment, recognizing the Ojibwe and Dakota peoples as the ancestral caretakers of the land on which the University stands. Psychology major Jamison Cook followed with a prayer song.
The event’s keynote speaker, Anton Treuer, is a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and the author of more than 20 books, including “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask” and “Where Wolves Don’t Die,” a young adult coming-of-age thriller and his first work of fiction.
Beyond writing, Treuer’s work spans Ojibwe language revitalization, cultural preservation and education. In 2018, he was named a Guardian of Culture and Lifeways by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums. At Bemidji State University, he is leading the development of an Ojibwe teacher training program for future language educators.
But on Monday, Treuer spoke as a storyteller, inviting the audience to reflect on the ways that human connection heals and strengthens them.