Unity walk sheds light on racism in Thunder Bay

Faith City Church pastor Roma Fisher holds up a Walking in the Light sign during a stop at City Hall during the Oct. 18 Unity Walk and Symposium to address racism in Thunder Bay.
Faith City Church Pastor Roma Fisher holds up a Walking in the Light sign during a stop at City Hall during the Oct. 18 Unity Walk and Symposium to address racism in Thunder Bay.

By Rick Garrick

LONG LAKE #58—Long Lake #58’s Roma Fisher and Narcisse Kakegabon joined with other Thunder Bay residents on Oct. 18 to address racism during the Walking in the Light Unity Walk and Symposium.

“What people are saying is that we have to work together,” says Fisher, Pastor of Faith City Church and president of Spirit Alive television. “This is not only a local problem, but a global problem at large. So we all have to put our heads together, put down some of our differences and see where we can work with making Thunder Bay a better community to live in.”

Fisher was one of the speakers who spoke during the Symposium, which was held at the Columbus Centre after the Unity Walk. The Unity Walk and Symposium was held by Matawa First Nations Management, which represents nine First Nation communities northeast of Thunder Bay, including Long Lake #58.

“As an individual, as a person, I have to think about what I am doing to make it better to stop racism in my own personal life, the way I think, how I behave and how I react to different things that I don’t like that is going on,” Fisher says. “I’m trying to put a better, maybe a positive spin, to it.”

Fisher says churches also need to change the way they are ministering in the city.

“We have to diversify the way we minister to people and present Jesus in Christ [and] also maybe be inclusive with many of our programs and projects,” Fisher says, noting that Spirit Alive television has featured both Christian and traditional First Nations people to provide a better picture of what First Nations people are like, whether it is in music, entertainment, or art. “We want to bring that out and give a better picture and show Thunder Bay and the rest of the world that First Nations people are just like everyone else, we have aspirations and dreams.”

In addition to Fisher, the Symposium featured a variety of speakers, including John Ferris, organizer of the Aboriginal Artworks Group of Northern Ontario, Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh Bishop Lydia Mamakwa and Walid Chahal, co-chair of Diversity Thunder Bay.

“It went well — we had a good group,” says Kakegabon, community supports officer for the Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS) Aboriginal Skills Advancement Program (ASAP). “We had a lot of young students here. We had our students from our ASAP program that participated and we had some people from the Multicultural Centre, so it went well.”

Kakegabon says the KKETS staff provides information to their students about being safe in the city.

“There is risk that they can be [impacted by] the racism in the city,” Kakegabon says. “At KKETS, every Monday morning and every Friday we hold circles. We just want to know where the students are at because right now we are dealing with some of the issues of racism.”

Constance Lake Councillor and Matawa First Nations Management Board President Darius Ferris organized the Walking in the Light Unity Walk and Symposium to address racism in Thunder Bay. The Unity Walk started at the International Friendship Gardens at the corner of Victoria Ave. and Waterloo St., with the walkers following a route along Victoria Ave. and Donald St. to City Hall and on to the Columbus Centre on May St.

“I believe that safety is one of things that we need as a priority,” Ferris says, noting that many students from the Matawa communities are pursuing their education goals in Thunder Bay. “They want the best life. That is why they come here, so that is an awareness that we want to promote.”