Water Walkers, Water Keepers

James Keating Elementary School in Penetanguishene, ON had its first ever Water Walk in March this year.  The event was organized by Aimee Grenier who is the Simcoe County District School Board’s First Nation, Métis and Inuit student adviser.  The Water Walk Celebration fit into the elementary curriculum that has been focusing on the importance of water for survival to all of life.  Grenier is quoted in the Midland Mirror as saying, “We need to have our leaders remember how sacred water is to our future generations.  As people, we need to remember that and do what we can to reduce consumption and our footprint.”

Photo Midland Mirror

The kids also participated in as water ceremony with representatives of two local First Nations; Beausoleil First Nation and Georgina Island First Nation.  They learned that water is sacred to Indigenous people and that we have a responsibility to take care of it.

As we Canadians begin the process of decolonization which may mean different things to different people, we are examining our unconscious colonial beliefs.  One of these colonial attitudes was that the land we now call Canada was uninhabited and the resources were infinite so it was okay for European colonizers to take as much as they wanted for as long as they wanted.  Perhaps that was how Europeans of that time thought about the place where we now live.  Perhaps we still think about the far north that way – uninhabited and ripe for the picking. However, it is becoming clear these days that resources are not always renewable or infinite and that species once gone are gone for good.  Scientists liked David Suzuki are telling us that we have to rethink the habits of waste and pollution.

The David Suzuki Foundation has been working for years on projects involving water such as the Blue Dot Movement.  At bluedot.ca we are asked to join 

107,503 Canadians in the blue dot movement “take action now to join the rising tide of people across the country who want our right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food legally recognized at all levels of government. ”  The idea is to get local communities to get their municipal governments to pass declaration respecting people`s right to live in a healthy environment.  Then this movement can grow to provincial and federal levels with environmental bills of rights.  The goal is to finally have this right enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In this same vein, the David Suzuki Foundation has partnered with the Council of Canadians to track the quality of drinking water on Canada’s Reserves.  In a their one-year report Glass Half Empty I learned that there are actually no laws or standards for water quality on reserves although these exist for all Canadians off reserves.  The federal government has said that it wants to clean up the drinking water on these reserves in a five year period but the report shows that the bureaucracy that has been created over the years is designed to retard this process and major changes need to be made to the processes so that clean water can be a right that all people in Canada share.

While we change our colonial ways of thinking that we probably weren’t consciously aware of, another process, another story is emerging.  That of indigenization, or taking Indigenous knowledge into our way of thinking is also happening.  In many parts of Canada it is Indigenous people who are taking a stand to protect natural areas and water especially.  In Anishinaabe traditions, women are the water keepers.  As those who bring life, they are also responsible for protecting the water.  There are Water Walkers, Indigenous women who spend the warmer months walking the circumference of lakes such as the Great Lakes and Lake Simcoe, taking part in ceremonies and showing their respect and love for the water.

For thousands of years, Indigenous knowledge was gathered from the land, from stories, from elders and the rest of life.  The people were part of it all.  All my relations, was how they spoke of the land, trees, plants, insects, animals, birds, fish, the moon, sun, sky, earth and the water.  The colonizers rejected this knowledge.  Today, the message of scientists is often one based in fear of what will happen if we don’t respect the water and the land.  People can only take so much fear before they start to avoid the fearful thing.   This is a heavy burden for children to bear.  However, thinking of all of life as our relations creates a sense of connection, abundance and family.  That is something that can motivate people to change their harmful actions and become more nurturing and protective.  In this way, indigenization can be a vital part of the solution to the problems that we face.

Although our governments tried for hundreds of years to eradicate Indigenous people and their knowledge they were unsuccessful.  And this knowledge is still here waiting to emerge and flourish at a time that we desperately need it.  It fits in perfectly with the knowledge that science offers us and we need both kinds of knowledge.  Together, they create a story of resilience and hope and this is the new story that will be the one our children and grandchildren tell.