SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — On a controversial holiday, a local Shoshone leader spoke with ABC4.com in an exclusive interview about Indigenous Peoples Day.

"I look at it as more than a celebration. I look at it as an invitation," Darren Parry, a former chairman of Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation, said Monday. "An invitation to sit and listen and to learn and walk forward with truth and reconciliation and learn about a people that has always been here."

Holiday controversy

Indigenous Peoples Day originated just decades ago to celebrate Native Americans' history and culture. In 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first-ever proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day.

The day is typically observed on the same day as Columbus Day, recognizing Christopher Columbus' sighting of the Americas in

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