Celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day
Date: Jun 21
10:00 am
- 9:00 pm
Where: Everywhere
Celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day at The Rooms
The Rooms celebrates the rich and diverse voices, experiences and histories of Inuit, Innu and Mi’kmaq and 9000 years of Indigenous Peoples in this place – today and every day.
All Day:
Free admission to all exhibitions!
Self-guided family activities in the Level 4 museum exhibition: This Place: Our Lives on Land and Sea.
Celebrate Indigenous traditions and skills - make Inuit snow goggles and play string games; learn about Innu tea dolls; and try your hand at a Mi’kmaq game of Waltes.
Here to Stay film screening (episode 1) on loop in theatre.
Jessica Brown, an esteemed award-winning Nunatsiavut Inuk filmmaker, is based in St. John's, NL. She takes pride in being the owner of Ujarak Media and is at the forefront of creating groundbreaking content that showcases the rich diversity and cultural heritage of Indigenous communities. As the Founder and CEO of the Northern Film Initiative, she actively works towards providing platforms and opportunities for Indigenous voices to be heard and celebrated. More: Ujarak Media
Time: 12 pm
Celebrate with Kilautiup Songuning-Strength of the Drum. Performance outdoors in the Fortis Courtyard (note: if weather is not suitable, the performance will move to Level 3 atrium).
Featuring drumming, singing and dancing, Kilautiup Songuning, in Inuktitut means, “Strength of the Drum”. Kilautiup Songuning has performed nationally and internationally on many occasions. The group features Solomon Semigak, Inuit Drum Dancer and Singer from Makkovik, Nunatsiavut; Sophie Angnatok, Lead Singer and Lead Inuit Throat-Singer/Drum Dancer/Speaker, from Nain, Nunatsiavut; Stanley Nochasak, Lead Drum Dancer / Speaker from Nain, Nunatsiavut; and Ashley Dicker, Throat-Singer/Drum Dancer from Nain, Nunatsiavut.
No ticket is required. This is a Drop-in program.
Events & Programs
Unleash Your Inner Artist at The Rooms!
Come draw at The Rooms and practice your skills with focused exercises.
What to Expect:
Our experienced instructor will guide you through fundamental drawing techniques. Each session focuses on a different theme, from drawing the harbour view to capturing the details of our natural history collection.
This is a creative and supportive environment; all skill levels and experience are welcome! Designed for ages 15 and up.
Quality drawing supplies are available, or feel free to bring your own sketchbook.
Cost: $20 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms members. Drop-ins welcome!
Fishing for Cod
For centuries, fishing for cod has played a vital role in the lives of the peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador. Generations of fishing men, women, and children made use of the land and sea to sustain them and spent their lives “making fish.”
Join us each day for an interpretive guided tour in one of our galleries. From the story of the cod fishery to visiting a current art exhibition to a Family Rainbow Tour, there is something for everyone.
Each tour is approximately 30–40 minutes and is included in the cost of admission. Free for Rooms members.
Unleash Your Inner Artist at The Rooms!
Come draw at The Rooms and practice your skills with focused exercises.
What to Expect:
Our experienced instructor will guide you through fundamental drawing techniques. Each session focuses on a different theme, from drawing the harbour view to capturing the details of our natural history collection.
This is a creative and supportive environment; all skill levels and experience are welcome! Designed for ages 15 and up.
Quality drawing supplies are available, or feel free to bring your own sketchbook.
Cost: $20 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms members. Drop-ins welcome!
There are divergent theories about the origins of suffrage movements. How does Newfoundland fit into these narratives? What is known about the movement and what remains unexplored? How does this formative social movement complicate traditional histories of the former Dominion?
Join us for a special keynote lecture by Dr. Margot Duley for the “Up She Rises! A Public Forum about Women and Gender in Newfoundland & Labrador History” Symposium.
Cost: Free, but a ticket is required. Reserve your free ticket online or by calling (709) 757-8090.
This event is presented in partnership with The Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society.
About the Keynote Speaker:
Margot I. Duley is the preeminent scholar on the history of the women’s suffrage movement in Newfoundland, and author of Where Once Our Mothers Stood We Stand: Women’s Suffrage in Newfoundland, 1890-1925 (1993) and Extraordinary Passages: The Life and Times of Margaret Iris Duley, Newfoundland's Pathbreaking Novelist (2024). Her enlarged and revised history of the suffrage movement, From Silence to Suffrage: Women's Path to Citizenship in Newfoundland, 1803-1949, has just been released by Boulder Books (2025).
She is Professor Emerita of History and Women's Studies at Eastern Michigan University, and Dean Emerita, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Springfield. Dr. Duley has also contributed extensively to the community, including serving as a board member with the Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society and with PerSIStence Theatre Company. Notably, she chaired a campaign to erect a statue to suffrage leader Armine Gosling, unveiled in June in Bannerman Park—the first singular statue to a named woman in the City of St. John’s and the first public statue in the province designed by a woman (sculptor Sheila Coultas).
For the symposium, Dr. Duley will revisit her research on the suffrage movement and present new findings related to its complex and formative history.