Ribbon Skirt Day leader reflects on changes since her cultural attire was shamed

In Isabella Kulak’s home is a box of about a few hundred letters, notes and hand-drawn pictures of ribbon skirts sent to her from across Canada and beyond — fan mail from those who consider her story and the origins of “Ribbon Skirt Day” as inspirational.

“I have like a whole notebook of letters, a whole stack of drawings from all these schools and it makes me feel so happy and it warms my heart,” said Isabella, a shy 15-year-old, on a phone call from her home in Kamsack, Sask., located about 270 kilometres east of Regina.

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“I do want to eventually write back to them, but I am really busy with school.”

After all, the Anishinaabe girl is still a teenager. This past week, she had a volleyball tournament. These next few months, she will be completing Grade 10 and the next big step is on the path to medical school, she said.

About five years ago, then-10-year-old Isabella, a member of the Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan, wore a ribbon skirt to formal day at her school, Kamsack Comprehensive Institute. It was the last day before Christmas break.

The ribbon skirt, a colourful and handmade cultural garment worn in ceremonies or for special events, was not formal enough, she was told by an educational assistant at the school. She should have worn a store-bought dress, like one of her classmates, she was told.

She returned home and cried, she said.

“She went to school so proud and came home pretty sad, not wearing her skirt anymore and it completely broke my heart,” Lana Kulak, Isabella’s mother, said.

The Good Spirit School Division later apologized for what Isabella’s father said he believed was a racially motivated comment.

Her story, shared first person-to-person then online, was met with mingled anger over the perceived racism in those comments and with support for the young girl.

“Now I see, like, how much it affected people in a positive way; now they’re not afraid to show their culture and wear their cultural attire,” Isabella says, slowly and thoughtfully.

Isabella’s experience in December 2020 was the thread that stitched together a national Ribbon Skirt Day in Canada.

In December 2022, an act to establish Jan. 4 as National Ribbon Skirt Day received royal assent. That was the first day Isabella returned to school after Christmas break, alongside family members who were wearing ribbon skirts.

“It’s like the world woke up and decided it was time to have a change happen,” said Lana, looking back.

“We are seeing national ribbon skirt resources everywhere.”

Children from different elementary schools across Canada have sent Isabella letters, including those in her box — an RCMP-emblazoned container, originally full of gifts from the Mounties. It’s now stacked with drawings from the children of their own ribbon skirts.

Isabella also received one of the first letters from a retired RCMP officer who had served in the Kamsack area.

Seeing her name plastered across social media posts back then was overwhelming for Isabella. Even still, the growth of the movement is a lot for the family to wear.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever get used to being the centre of attention. I know it’s hard for Isabella,” said Chris Kulak, Isabella’s father.

The family is on a first-name basis with federal and provincial politicians.

“We teach our girls to be humble and respectful and always realize that when something like this happens to you, you have a responsibility to carry it forward,” Chris said.

Neither Chris, Lana nor Isabella has Facebook, but there’s a dedicated support page for Isabella on the social media site (though its activity teetered off in 2024).

One post details how a group of grade-school students created their own handmade book about Isabella’s story to share with younger students. Others posted with photos of them in their own ribbon skirts.

Ribbon Skirt Day means much more to Lana than the cultural attire. She sees it as a symbol of dealing with intolerance.

“With Isabella’s story opening up so many different eyes and so many different positive stories coming from this, it really, really makes me happy to see what’s happening for my children and the future generations seeing such a positive change,” said Lana.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2026.