Welcome to another episode of easy English.

I'm Rebecca.

And today I'm taking you to the indigenous Artisan Market Place here in Toronto.

You'll be able to see money.

Different vendors from different indigenous communities in Canada.

Ready?

Let's go.

Could you tell us a bit about what products you have here today or your involvement in the marketplace?

Ah, we are representatives of the Toronto in York region Maiti counsel.

So we bring made he themed goods, which are a little bit different.

We were the Voyagers in the in the opening up of Canada.

And so we have.

Our sashes are traditional sashes on our hats and our wooden spoons that accompany are fiddling and some beating information and, um, just maybe themed goods in general that Ah, a little bit different than our First Nations cousins.

Well, there's three indigenous groups of Canada.

We have the first nations.

We have the inn.

We and we have the Mai thi The Mai thi are traditionally called the mixed blood people in history.

Ah, the explorers and the settlers who first came over from Europe, um, had relationships and marriages with the native women that they found here ends that when they lived together in a community that formed Ah Mei to You're a mixed blood nation where from with socks, impersonation and this is My Mother, Margaret Minor and my name is Deborah, and we are here at the annual native Canadian Center of Toronto.

Indigenous Mark Artisan Marketplace is an annual event that's held where local artisans from across actually the province are here showcasing their artwork and our communities from Toronto and surrounding areas.

The reservation on prom is called Georgina Island First Nations.

That's up at Lake Simcoe, Ontario, which is about an hour and 1/2 north of here.

Uh, yeah, I grew up in Toronto on my life.

Did this to me was like like my journey sort of thing because I don't know too much about my culture.

I used my art to go around to markets like this, or power house and stuff so that I can learn more about my culture, learn on understand about what's going on in these things, and to me, I feel like it's kind of helped me out, you know?

So it's, you know, I'm getting a little spiritually healing and has a sense by doing this and sharing it with everybody else.

And I love seeing people's faces like smile and stuff like that.

Everybody gets Thio.

Enjoy my artwork.

Hello there.

Um, I'm a beekeeper, and so I keep bees in Toronto and in the country areas.

Um, my waist.

First nation.

She's national big way on.

So we've been connected to the native center for many, many years, and we usually join in on this celebration here for the Christmas market.

We were with a lot of people from Peru from the mountain sign.

A lot of the stuff out also are made by a damn people from the mountains in Peru.

And they're also like indigenous, the older background.

It's Inca.

That's the Inca people on all the fabrics that they used.

A conference call.

Parker Onda Lama.

Do you speak any indigenous language?

Well, my daddy spits the languishes called Ketchum.

Let's run a mountain side, but actually that many languages in Peru.

It's not like that people from the mountains they speak it for we have the jungle side that we share with Brazil, the Amazons.

So they're speaking English that it's called Aymara on in the coast with Spiegel, The Spanish.

I mean, everybody knows his punished.

But it, you know, just there have been only English is to Do you see any similarities or differences between indigenous communities in Toronto and in Peru?

Well, uh, they have their own kind of culture, but at the end, I felt like I do everybody like, Artie son people they use all everything that counts comes from, you know, from a Davion imams this Aborigine kind of so there, Betty.

Um, artistic people.

I make everything myself.

This artwork is made of fabrics for a friend of mine.

But my prom early jewelry designer make necklaces Bola ties on here I am my clothing designer as well.

Start for a jeweler.

I love doing this work.

It's kind of people say therapy for me, I guess I guess it is only we're kind of winning in a good state of mind S o f e.

I think my energy positive energy goes into the jewelry and goes on to people.

I'm on my group in the tiger area.

Originally, my reserve his succession to the Grand River.

I am studies School of article up in Sudbury lived amount human for like 25 years, just released back to Toronto.

It's totally different from where I grew up.

Well, my culture.

Six Nations, which is a long house, people the They do their share mornings through the moon moon ceremonies throughout the year.

In a different time, different times of the year we live in when I left.

The Manitou Island is a totally different way up there to the clan system is different to down here where I'm from It's mother, that we follow the mother's line.

The mother's female is, is that there are leaders, plane leaders.

My mother is known for her pine needle baskets, which we have on display here, as well as our dream catchers and shakers and sweet grass circles signifying straight.

And the wonderful thing is the comfy babies as well and the comfy baby's air great for anyone going through trauma agitation but also for older adults as they age in the communities as well, the dimensional Alzheimer's as well as you know, notice.

We've got some name tags here in Arjun way language, and then I've also put Thea language in English as well.

We say for hello is on in Bozo.

My initials are Mmm.

So I'm the mountain and that's the sun and it rises around my five Children.

So the designs that I got here are all designed on Adobe Illustrator.

The word here is a Mohawk word, and it means where the water comes out of the trees.

It's the It's the word that they used to use for when they we're first in the area.

So is what we would use to describe Toronto.

This one's like a little native emoji guy.

It says Chaw on here.

So if you ever go around, tow a Paolo and stuff, you hear some people laughing or something or telling a joke, you might hear somebody go cha.

So it's kind of like a laugh, you know?

That's why he's, like, crying, laughing sort of thing.

You know, I have here we put together a smudge kit and this much kit in a little package.

Here we have our four traditional medicines that we use.

We have sage, sweetgrass, cedar and tobacco, and it's a raw to back was not tobacco that we used for people that use in cigarettes.

We also have a wild, tricky feather and, um we with the four medicines into our abalone shell.

Or you can use a wooden bowl or a glass bowl.

You put your medicines in, you'd light it, and then you would start smudging.

Usually fanning with your feather are similar.

History is that a lot of us went underground in the past because of the prejudice and the persecution of the people who were settling the country because they were trying to, um, do away with our culture and do away with the people that were already living here.

I didn't know from being young that I was Macy and my mother was the youngest in her family, and her older sisters would have been in their twenties in the 19 twenties.

So around the Georgian Bay area, it was, uh, if you can speak English without an accent, you're suddenly accepted.

If they know you're French, your level down.

If they know you have indigenous blood, you're another level down.

So they fought anybody getting involved in this.

We found it a little later, like after the older ones had passed on.

And then it started to come out and, uh, very interesting, because then you can look back and you can see things that you didn't know why.

But they were kind of hidden.

It wasn't stressed and underlined.

And so you often hear these stories about finding out later just to add to it.

But Jim was saying, Ah, my grandfather had a job with the city of Toronto and if he had ever after World War I, when he came home ever gave any information about his history, he would have lost that job quite quickly.

And he had that job because he hit who he waas.

Unfortunately, and I'm so glad that the world has opened up a little bit more now so that we can be who we are and be proud of it.

We're a country of people who come from everywhere else.

My father, we're from Denmark.

I'm a real mongrel, a ce faras.

My history goes, and I'm proud of that because we came here for a different life and for better life.

And and, uh, I'm glad that in this country we can be proud of who we are.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

We hope you learn something new about indigenous cultures in Canada in the comments.

Please let us know what indigenous cultures exist in your country's, what languages they speak and what cultural traditions they have.

Things there watching and see you next time, yeah.