Dancers in spotlight at Niagara Native Centre’s annual powwow

By Evan Loree  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Dancers were out in full regalia last Saturday at the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines for the Niagara Regional Native Centre’s ninth-annual powwow. It was a vibrant affair: the sound of people playing traditional music on the grandfather drums as attendees and participants from all over filled the Ice Dogs’ arena. The theme of this year’s powwow was about honouring two-spirit and LGBTQIA+ people, who have always been close allies to, and members of, Indigenous communities, said Jay Lomax, one of the powwow’s head dancers. “We’ve always respected that community and they always respected us,” said Lomax, who is from Dakota Tipi First Nation. Lomax is a teacher at First Nations Technical Institute in Deseronto, Ont., and has been dancing at powwows…

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