Sask. teen hopes to encourage vaccination with healing dance
A 13-year-old jingle dress pow wow dancer from Sweet Grass First Nation near North Battleford is hoping to encourage other youth in her community to get vaccinated.
Lyrik Albert is a champion dancer, having travelled across North America.
She hopes she can add to the voices calling for more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, so she released a video in conjunction with the Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre.
“I hope everyone who sees the video gets encouraged and they need to know that getting vaccinated is really important for everyone,” Albert told CTV News.
She’s been dancing all her life. A love for her culture combined with the desire get back to performing in her jingle dress pushed her to want to make a difference and inspire those who are vaccine hesitant to get the shot.
“You’re protecting yourself and protecting others and I hope this helps us get back to our old ways and end this pandemic. I want to show my culture and show what I love doing so that we can get back to doing what we love, and I absolutely love dancing,” she said.
Albert wants to help change the low vaccine rates on her First Nation for youth and adults where she’s hearing a lot of hesitancy firsthand to getting immunized.
Her mom, Sherri Poitras, said Lyrik’s given Cree name is Thunderbird Woman and the strength of the name is as significant as the purpose of jingle dress dancing.
“The jingle dance is known as the healing dance,” Poitras said.
The fact that Lyrik uses this particular dance to help spread the word about vaccinations is an important choice according to her mom.
“It makes me very proud. I do what I can to instill our values to my two kids. We live our ceremonial life and we try to raise our children in a traditional way so I try to keep her in touch with those values.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
'We have laws': Premier Smith says police action justified in Calgary
The actions, including the decision to use non-lethal force, to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Calgary campus were justified, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.