Our Indigenous Advisory Board approached us when Stampede was cancelled to ask if we would raise the CPS Tipi at Police Headquarters this summer since we will not be able to raise it at Elbow River Camp. We were humbled and honoured on Monday to have advisory board members and representatives from other Treaty 7 Nations help us make this request a reality, following a blessing of the site by Blackfoot Elders.

Elders from the Blackfoot Nation transferred the tipi to our Office of the Chief in 1985 with a vow from us that it would be used to provide Indigenous youth in Calgary with a safe space where they can celebrate their culture and remember their roots. The transfer ceremony gave us the right to be the holder and user of the tipi, but it still belongs to the Blackfoot people.

Five years later, we were invited by the Treaty 7 nations to raise the tipi at Indian Village (the former name of Elbow River Camp) alongside tipis from their nations. We have been invited back every year since.

We are in a time of listening as a police service. It is clear that there is still a lot of learning and work still to be done to make sure that all Calgarians see us as people here to serve them and keep them safe. This includes the work needed for reconciliation with local Indigenous communities.

Raising the tipi is not a statement that we have achieved reconciliation, it is a commitment that we will continue listening and working with local Indigenous nations to help create a better future.

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