by Xavier Kataquapit
www.underthenorthernsky.com
Attawapiskat – Attawapiskat First Nation wrapped up another successful Kattawapiskak Keekehwin Gathering for the community. The week-long event was held from August 2 to 8, 2026, and it brought together members, visitors and performers to celebrate, play games and provide prize-winning events for participants.
This year’s event was led by a planning committee consisting of community members including Joseph Kataquapit, Roseanne Sutherland, Xavier Rose, Christopher Kataquapit, Lydia Linklater, Anna Kebokee, Linda Kataquapit, Keilyn Linklater, Jenny Hookimaw, Flora Iahtail, Jackie Kamalatisit, Teyonna Spence and Markeisha Sutherland.
This gathering is an important annual event for community members, as it brings everyone together for a positive get-together to celebrate, feast, and provide a fun atmosphere for everyone.
My brother Joseph Kataquapit is part of the organizing committee and he explained that community members wanted this year’s event to be about giving everyone a positive event that celebrated culture and community while also giving local youth a fun activity during the summer. There are not many opportunities for members to leave the north with their families, so Kattawapiskak Keekehwin Gathering was established as a summer gathering to bring performers and music events to the community.
This year’s event featured various Bingo events, raffle prize announcements, barbecues, DJ dances, flea markets and daily games for children and adults. Major games included a water-based Royal Rumble, where participants competed in a last-man-standing event on a floating platform on the Attawapiskat River. Adults also took part in canoe races. There were also big prize events and raffle prize drops. Events were also hosted by Attawapiskat Health Services, Attawapiskat Power Corporation, Northern Store, Youth Haven / Six Nations, Mental Health Crisis Team and Ontario Works.
A two-day mini Pow Wow event was held during the festivities, led by Rosie Koostachin and her family of traditional performers and singers. A Gospel Jamboree also took place at the end of the gathering.
The week-long event was opened with a Sunday mass led by local Elders and a closing ceremony featured a small community parade.
This year’s performers and bands included The Flint Boys, 143 Rockband, Into Overdrive, SwampRockers and Relic Kings. There were also solo artists including Shanahan & Josiah, Brayden Wesley and Ethan Wesley.
Brayden and Ethan are local youth who performed solo electric guitar routines for the crowd. Their performances electrified the crowd and encouraged other local youth to take up music and play instruments, with the hope of someday performing at future events and gatherings. At one evening dance, local youth Ashton Wesley did a Michael Jackson impersonation with a dance routine that excited the evening crowd.
Organizers of the annual gathering have worked hard over the past few years and past events have featured big-name acts such as Trooper, Honeymoon Suite, Helix, Harlequin, Streetheart and Glass Tiger. The community’s own Adrian Sutherland has made several performances at the event.
This is reminiscent of when I grew up in Attawapiskat in the 1990s, when community members organized the first official Pow Wow events that brought everyone together for multi-day events. It was a special feeling for us young people back then because it gave us a sense of pride and self-confidence. In a world where we were constantly made to feel strange about our heritage, it felt good to have a major summer event dedicated to making us feel good about ourselves and our community. Unfortunately, those events didn’t happen every year and it wasn’t until the development of the Kattawapiskak Keekehwin Gathering that it became a regular annual gathering.
My brother Joseph and his planning committee shared the same feeling from those past events. They know what it feels like to be in the community in the midst of summer and wanting to have a fun event with your family and friends.
Their planning committee purposefully included several new and younger members just so that these new members can lead this annual event in the future. At the end of this year’s event, they also announced the next event set to take place during the first week of August 2027.
The committee members were thankful for everyone’s participation and volunteering. They were grateful to the performers and to sponsors who supported the gathering, as well as the community support throughout the year.
The Kattawapiskak Keekehwin Gathering is a great event that brings out the best in Attawapiskat, as it encourages youth to celebrate their heritage and gives them a sense of self-confidence in who they are and where they come from. Committee members described it as a time to take away any negative energy, bring out the good in everyone and honour the name of the event ‘Keekehwin’, which means ‘healing’. Kitchi-Meegwetch misiway (Thanks very much to everyone) for hosting this great event for our community.
