Friday's annual Portage Friendship Centre Elders' Dinner also saw the launch of a new book that focuses on elders' life stories.

It's called "New Buffalo Road", and while Jamie Kirkland's name is on the cover, he doesn't consider himself the author. He explains what that means.

"The authors of this book, who are the elders, can have their stories read and experienced through this book," he says. "And then an education can come from that for indigenous and non-indigenous of ages. It was a conversational setting and the elders essentially included what they want people to read about, what they want people to understand."

Kirkland says the principle of the book is indigenous voices have been ignored through this country's history and the effects are being seen globally.

"And I believe that we are living in a generation where indigenous voices will be listened to, finally," he says. "And that is what will solve current problems that we are experiencing nationally and internationally. This is a community-based initiative by the Friendship Centre, but I believe it's connected to a larger indigenous resurgence."

Peter Prince contributed artwork to the book, and acknowledges its subject matter impacted his approach.

"Talking with Jamie, and how he was going to structure it, how it would be presented, to me, it was to show in present day, the things of yesteryear that are long gone long before the internet age," he says. "And it was like presenting the past to the present."