2018: the campaign came first
In 2018 Tala Tootoosis, founder of the #KokumScarfCampaign, asked women to post pictures of themselves in ribbon skirts and kokum scarves wearing a "statement tee" from an Indigenous-owned business. That was four years before the 2022 solidarity wave. (Ntawnis Piapot, CBC News Saskatoon, 1 December 2018.)
2022: the solidarity wave
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Indigenous people across Canada and the United States posted photographs of themselves in kokum scarves as a public gesture of solidarity with Ukrainians. Jayroy Makokis, of Saddle Lake Cree Nation: "It gives us pride. We feel very powerful with our scarves on our head." Mallory Yawnghwe: "It was because of this trade, commerce, and cooperation that floral scarves became a symbol of the strength and hard work of our matriarchs." (NBC News, 1 March 2022; Kalle Benallie, "Scarves of the matriarchs," ICT, 9 March 2022.)
This chapter is still being gathered; names appear only with permission.