Palestinian pavilion joins Westman Cultural Festival in Brandon for 1st time
Organizer says she wants to share her culture, while calling for peace in Gaza
Aida Harrison is opening the doors of her Brandon, Man., business to host a Palestinian cultural pavilion at this year's Westman Multicultural Festival — a first for the festival — as a call for peace in her home country.
The devastating war in Gaza compelled Harrison to showcase Palestinian culture in Brandon, a city she's called home for the last 25 years. Harrison, who was born in Bethlehem, says it's heartbreaking seeing her fellow Palestinians killed, and their homes destroyed, in the ongoing conflict.
"The whole world is watching without saying anything.... Everybody has the right to live in their country in free[dom] and dignity. And we don't have the dignity in Palestine," Harrison said. "I want to live in peace."
She wants the pavilion — located at the Backyard on Aberdeen event space — to be a place of education that helps Brandonites feel more connected to her people and culture.
Officially called the Palestine Pavilion, it's one of 11 pavilions featuring around 20 different countries at this weekend's Westman Multicultural Festival — a mainstay in the city each February that gives Brandonites a chance to see how different cultures weave together, says Gautam Srivastava, the general manager for the Indian pavilion and festival's secretary.
"We may or may not get along globally, we may or may not share the same political views, religious views, but we can all work together to bring a greater good to our community," Srivastava said.
"We are all people, and through any conflicts or through any political differences, through any religious differences, we're humans trying to live together."
Srivastava says it's exciting to see new pavilions helping build the event up again after the COVID-19 lockdowns. Last year's festival, the first since 2020, had six pavilions.
New pavilions for this year's festival, which began Thursday and runs until Saturday, also include Nigerian and Colombian pavilions, and one from the Hispanic Association of Manitoba, he said.
Emmanuel Akobi, the lead co-ordinator for the Nigeria pavilion at the festival, said the new pavilion — located at the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans In Canada Unit No. 10 building — reflects the growing Nigerian culture in Manitoba. In 2021 according to census data, 465 people in Brandon indicated Nigerian as their ethnic or cultural origin — up from 155 in 2016.
Akobi is looking forward to sharing the culture of his country with his new home in Brandon at a festival that brings the community together, he said.
"Everybody just wants to be happy with each other. That's just what you experience," he said.
An opportunity for discussion
Harrison says when she first moved to Brandon 25 years ago, she was one of a handful of newcomers in the city. It was lonely at first, and she cried for six months because of how much she missed her home country, she said.
But the city, which now has a population of over 54,000, has changed over the years, and she said she's been amazed to see the celebration of different cultures in Brandon. According to the 2021 Canadian census, just over 18 per cent of Brandonites are immigrants.
Harrison says around 15 volunteers are helping with the pavilion — but she also has staff prepping food and is paying for Palestinians from Winnipeg to be a part of the pavilion.
The Palestinian festivities will include poems, food, a fashion show and other activities to showcase her homeland. She'll also have a video from the Middle East featuring Palestinian dance, music and culture.
Harrison says she's already having conversations about why she's hosting the festival's first Palestinian pavilion, and views those discussions as opportunities to talk about the loss Palestinians have faced.
Gaza has been largely demolished by Israel's military following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. That assault killed 1,200 people, with around 250 hostages taken into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in the Gaza Strip. But in a January study published in medical journal The Lancet, researchers found that for the period between Oct. 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024, the number of dead in Gaza was estimated to be 41 per cent higher than what the ministry was reporting.
Harrison said she's even more worried about the future for Palestinians after President Donald Trump's comments suggesting the U.S. should take over the Gaza Strip. That threat binds Palestinians and Canadians together, Harrison said, because Trump has also mused about making Canada a 51st state.
Harrison said she wants to show that Palestinians and Israelis can co-exist peacefully, even if their governments are at war. But something needs to change, she said.
"I love to stay and live in peace and Brandon, and as exactly the people of Palestine when they stay in their own country and live in peace," Harrison said.
"That's my hope, my dream. And if they want to leave all of us together, I'm open to living together — but in peace and equality. Less than that, I refuse."
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