Embracing one’s culture and tapping into the artistic side of it is something that Keeper of the Little People Regalia Outfitters’ Charleen Spence has been able to achieve. Like many other Indigenous people, Spence didn’t have the opportunity to learn her culture and traditions from family, due to the severe conditions imposed by residential schools. It was only later on in Spence’s life that she was able to embrace those traditions and talents.
“I always wanted to dance when I was a child,” said Charleen Spence. “I did not have anyone in my life or that I knew that shared the traditions openly. Due to the residential school and treaties making our cultural practices illegal, our culture knowledge was not passed down to our families and myself. I learnt about who I was through the different traditional teaching from Joe A Ross School and the University College of the North.