SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2024
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NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
PHOTO SUPPLIED
BY TRINA REHBERG BOYKO
Rhonda Head has
long been a fan of the
Winnipeg Jets, but
singing the national
anthem at a game—in
her native language of
Cree, nonetheless—
was something else.
"It was a really proud moment for me,"
says Head, a 22-time international award-
winning mezzo-soprano vocalist from
Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northern
Manitoba. "Not too long ago, we were
forbidden to speak in our Indigenous
languages, so to be able to sing in Cree
at a nationally televised event was
empowering."
Head's parents are residential school
survivors, having been stripped of their
identities and their language as they
were raised, makes Head's experience
singing the national anthem that much
more meaningful.
From hometown hockey
to Carnegie Hall
>
continued on page 13
music
Rhonda Head performing
the national anthem in Cree.
PHOTO BY JONATHAN KOZUB
