12 | NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2024
From hometown hockey to Carnegie Hall
music
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.
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Rhonda Head performing the national anthem in Cree. PHOTO BY JONATHAN KOZUB
PHOTO SUPPLIED
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