One of the popular traditions of the IAP2 North American Conference is the extra-curricular activities, and we are excited to offer you an opportunity you don’t want to miss: a unique cultural learning experience and a glimpse of “pre-contact” customs in what is now called Alberta.
Nakoda Îtipi and Ryder Style Craft from Eden Valley in the Stoney Nakoda First Nation will present workshops onsite at the Banff Centre.
This registration is for the afternoon Tipi Lowering - 1 - 4pm Mountain Time.
This event does not require morning attendance or other pre-requisites.
Participants will experience teepee teachings and Star Knowledge, based on an ancient concept known to early man: “As above, So below”, and which were, for a time, outlawed by the Canadian federal government.
Star Knowledge is unique to the Sioux and comes from the pre-treaty era passed down from generation to generation. It talks about the strong connection the Stoney Nakoda have to the land and all of creation.
Star Knowledge played a significant role in the day-to-day life of the Stoney Nakoda people prior to Contact. Star Knowledge guided the Nakoda in their travel, their seasonal harvests and ceremonies. It was common knowledge that has been forgotten or lost through the early reservation system and the removal of children from their families and their traditional culture and placed in residential schools operated by the churches and funded by the federal government.
Our thanks to ISL Engineering and Land Services, the IAP2 NAC Connections Sponsor, for its support of activities like this one that create an opportunity to connect.
About Nakota Îtipi and Ryder Style craft
Established in 2019, Nakota Îtipi and Ryder Style Craft is an ecotourism/cultural consultation venture owned and operated by entrepreneurs Ronine Ryder and Travis Jimmy John, members of the Bearspaw band from the Stoney Nakoda First Nation in Eden valley (Chiniki, Bearspaw, Wesley). 
Nakota Îtipi and Ryder Style Craft is also a recognized vendor with Parks Canada and a member of Indigenous Tourism Alberta (2020-2022), specializing the Stoney Nakoda’s history, culture, customs, and Star Knowledge prior to 1877 (the pre-reservation/pre-treaty era). NÎRSC also offers a wide range of traditional and contemporary crafts from bead work, regalia, Jewelry to teepees and weaponry ensuring authentic crafts unique to the Stoney Nakoda people.
Nakota Îtipi and Ryder Style Craft also provides a platform to discuss content such as pre-contact governance structure of the Nakoda people, residential schools, treaty/treaty rights and contemporary lifestyle of First Nations people on reserve in Canada today.
About the Stoney Nakoda Nation
The Stoney Nakoda nation is composed of three bands -- the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley -- who have origins from a much bigger tribe in the U S known to the non natives society as the Sioux. The Sioux language has three dialects: Dakota, Lakota, Nakota in Montana; in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the Nakoda are known as Assiniboine.
The name Stoney was given to the Nakoda by early European explorers who noticed their clever method of cooking using heated stones. This cooking method was unique to the Nakoda and so the early European explorers wrote down in their journals the natives who cooked with the stones or “Stoney”, for short. Nakoda means “friend” or “allies”.
