A little dancer is capturing a big audience. Margot was just four months old when her mother, Morgan Opikokew, recorded her at her first powwow in Saskatoon. The video shows Margot wearing a jingle dress, bouncing along to the drumming and singing. It has drawn more than 1.7 million views on TikTok. “It’s something good that went viral,” Opikokew said. For Opikokew, who is from Canoe Lake Cree First Nation, powwows are a way to connect her daughter to their Indigenous culture. Opikokew didn’t attend her first powwow until she was a teenager. “Growing up, I never really knew my culture,” she said. At home, Opikokew plays powwow music while Margot bounces in the Jolly Jumper. And as she teaches her daughter, Opikokew is learning too. She recently took a ribbon skirt-making class and wants to learn Cree. “It’s important to show the next generation the culture if we don’t want to lose it,” Opikokew said. “The best way to do that is to show Margot, my daughter, and hopefully other parents see that in the video, and then they want to do that as well.”
