After planning began before the COVID-19 pandemic, an Indigenous and Métis heritage space has opened at La Verendrye Hospital in Fort Frances.
The space opened earlier this fall after years of pandemic induced delay, but Destiny Wilson, an Indigenous Care Coordinator with Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre says the room has seen lots of use.
“So the planning process started back in 2020 but then COVID happened, so there was a lot of restrictions so they weren’t able to open it until recently,” Wilson said.
The space is available for patients in the hospital to practice their indigenous beliefs, Wilson says.
“So what the ceremonial space is, it’s a dedicated area, part of the hospital where the indigenous and Métis population, our people are able to practice their spirituality or whatever type of indigenous beliefs that they may have, and that also includes smudging or pipe ceremonies, any type of ceremony that they would need,” she said. “There’s a ventilation system set in place so we’re able to perform those ceremonies within the hospital now.”
Without a specially ventilated space some of the ceremonies which require the burning of herbal medicines or smoking ceremonial pipes would set off the alarms at the hospital.
“So we have four main sacred medicines, and that would be sage, cedar, tobacco and sweet grass,” Wilson said. “So when you smudge, it’s a time that you’re you’re able to honor and cleanse yourself, or your home from any negativity or sickness, or whether, like, it’s, you know, the sickness could present itself in different ways, whether it’s mental health, emotional health, physical, spiritual and the smudging will just cleanse your body and the space that you’re in from all of that unwanted energy…”
“We’ve already utilized different types of practices,” Wilson said “So a lot of the patients would request smudging so that would use the sage or sweet grass or the cedar, and sometimes it’s a mixture of both or all three. So that’s the most requested type of ceremony, is the smudging aspect. We have held a pipe ceremony, and we have yet to perform the drumming ceremony. No one has requested that yet, but that’s definitely available.”
The space is open to any Indigenous or Métis patient who is in the hospital and wants to conduct one of these ceremonies or if they are just looking for a quiet private space amidst what can be a chaotic environment in the hospital.
“It’s solely geared towards the indigenous people. Even if, even if they don’t practice traditional beliefs, whatever type of belief that they have, they’re able to utilize the space to perform whatever ceremony or practice that they believe in. So it’s not used only for traditional or ceremonial practices, you know, it’s just a safe space for the indigenous and Métis people to gather in. Hopefully it’s a place where everyone can come, where those people can come together, like the families could come together, and find a place of healing, where they can have a place where they can, you know, have a price, have privacy.”
