Peggy Revell
With voices raised in song to celebrate and give thanks to water, the “2011 Mother Earth Water Walk” was welcomed to this area last week.
More than 50 people joined in for one small leg of this walk as a copper bucket filled with water drawn from the Hudson Bay arrived by foot in Fort Frances last Wednesday morning—a journey meant to remind people of the sacredness of water and the need to protect it for future generations.
And it’s these teachings by the one of the walk’s co-founders—elder Josephine Mandamin—which inspired Sherri Oshawee of Seine River First Nation to help carry the copper bucket of water as it makes its next leg of the journey from International Falls to Duluth, Mn.
“I believe what it is that she’s doing is for the water, the spirit of the water, to help heal the spirit of the water,” Oshawee explained as the walkers paused briefly to gather for a ceremony and lunch at the Ranier rapids—where Rainy Lake turns into the Rainy River and local water begins its journey to Hudson Bay.
Oshawee stressed the importance of water as the giver of life—and how every person on the planet needs it to live.
“We have to do what we can to preserve it,” she remarked. “We have an opportunity to change things now by be actions we take today.”
The “Mother Earth Water Walk” began back in 2003 when two Anishinawbe grandmothers and other supporters started on a trek around Lake Superior to raise awareness about the need to protect the world’s water.
Over the following years, participants walked around Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie and along the St. Lawrence River.
This year’s walk has seen water drawn from all four surrounding waters of “Turtle Island” (North America), then carried inland by foot, with walkers from all four directions scheduled to arrive on June 13 on the shores of Lake Superior in Bad River, Wis.
“I’m excited to start walking,” said Donna Perrault of Couchiching First Nation the day before she also joined the leg of the trek to carry the water from International Falls to Duluth.
She was to be “out on the highway” on June 4—which was her 53rd birthday, but joined on the journey with her 17-year-old daughter and 12-year-old granddaughter.
For Perrault, one aspect of the “Water Walk” that she was impressed with was that it was women who were carrying the water, that women were the protectors of the water, as well as the idea that how people speak to water, sing to it, and the intent of their words affect water.
“I’m just exited. I understand it will be a hard time because I have arthritis, but that’s okay,” Perrault said optimistically about the journey ahead of her—although she won’t be walking all the way to the final Wisconsin destination.
“I’m hoping to go back for the ceremony—but the whole thing is a ceremony,” she reasoned.
“I think it’s going to be overwhelming,” echoed Sue Chiblow of Garden River First Nation, referring to the conclusion of the walk when the four copper pails meet in Wisconsin.
“Because it’s the first time that this ceremony has been done.”
Chiblow has been a part of this year’s walk since the beginning on May 21 when the southbound pail of water was drawn from the Hudson Bay.
When they were in Thompson, Man., it was 31 degrees C and the railroad tracks were flooded, she recalled. Then when they were up in Churchill drawing the water from Hudson Bay, they all were bundled up in their winter coats.
“We were saying that this water and us have gone all through four seasons in a couple of weeks,” Chiblow said about the journey south from there.
Chiblow conceded there is often some confusion as they enter a community and new walkers join them.
“There’s always movement, the water has got to keep moving,” she stressed, noting the walkers don’t slow down.
While water can meander, it doesn’t backtrack—so neither do the walkers, meaning they can’t retrace their steps.
Walkers will relay with each other, with women passing the copper bucket between themselves while cars leapfrog along the journey, Chiblow explained.
“But it works out after a few minutes, people get the hang of it,” she said.
Meanwhile, triple bypass surgery in January hasn’t stopped Roy Tom of Big Grassy First Nation from joining up with the walk since Winnipeg. He plans to travel with it all the way to the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior.
“I said I’d be ready by then,” he recalled about being asked to participate in the walk following his operation.
“And here I am.
“It was nice to see all the support as we walked through the communities [and] all ages,” Tom added.
“We’ve had really good support all along by communities, First Nation communities,” Chiblow agreed.
“[And] we’ve been fed lots,” she chuckled.
Chiblow said she draws her inspiration and focus for the walk from the message Mandamin has carried and passed along through the walks in previous years.
“It’s to ask people, ‘What are you going to do for the water? What are you going to do to protect it, to conserve it?’” she remarked.
“People need to talk about it as individuals, communities, and nations,” Chiblow stressed.
“Not just indigenous people, but all people.”
