Addition of ribbon skirts to RCMP ceremonial uniform draws mixed reaction
CBC
Members of the RCMP may soon be wearing ribbon skirts at special events, after the national police force announced it will add the traditional skirts to its ceremonial uniform options.
While RCMP said on social media Wednesday the design represents unity and a "symbol of resilience, survival, identity and hope," and some see the change as a sign of progress, others were critical of the move.
"I think that's an insult to our people, because they're the ones that snatched us from our homes," Barb Guimond said before a march in support of residential school survivors at The Forks in Winnipeg on Thursday.
"My family was one of them, my dad's siblings," she said. "I don't know what's the purpose in that, when they did that to us."
Historically, the RCMP played a major role in bringing students from First Nation communities to the residential schools, where many suffered horrific abuse.
Ribbon skirts are a traditional regalia that can be donned for Indigenous ceremony, and for many, are a symbol of resilience.
Some other participants in Thursday's march in Winnipeg echoed Guimond's sentiments on the RCMP adopting the skirt as part of the ceremonial uniform.
"Our ribbon skirt is a statement and it connects us closest to Creator," said Louise Menow, who also has family members who were day school survivors.
"But when I seen that, I was like 'No, you guys can't colonize this skirt too. You took everything else and colonized everything else. You can't take our ribbon skirt too.'"
Menow's friend, Ashley Chartrand, said there will be mixed feelings on the uniform addition.
"As long as they acknowledge where it comes from and where it began, then OK — like, I don't see a problem," she said. "But we both have different opinions."
Monica Campeau heard about the RCMP's change for the first time Thursday. She said Mounties wearing ribbon skirts could be seen as progress.
"To me, maybe that could be a part of reconciliation," she said. "I mean it, it has to come from somewhere."
Rayne Ryle agreed.
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