Anishinaabe youth complete 320 kilometre Healing Walk

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION — A group of about 14-16 Long Lake #58 youth patrol group members completed the third Healing Walk for all First Nations and Communities from Ginoogaming to Fort William First Nation.

“It was hot,” says Nathan Desmoulin, a member of the Long Lake #58 youth patrol group. “I felt like my legs were going to break.”

JJ Abraham, another member of the Long Lake #58 youth patrol group, says his legs and hips were sore after completing the about 320-kilometre walk, which began on June 23 at the Ginoogaming Pow Wow Grounds and ended on June 29 at Bannon’s Gas Bar in Fort William.

“The walk was really hot, but it was good once you finish it,” Abraham says. “All my friends were doing it and people were telling me: ‘Let’s do it, man!’”

Long Lake #58 Councillor Noreen Agnew says it was important for the youth to participate in the walk because they help to protect and take care of the community.

“They pushed through, they encouraged each other, they supported each other and they prayed a lot,” Agnew says. “It was important for them to start and to finish, so they learned a lot this week.”

Agnew says the youth learned to take care of each other during the walk.

“They bonded really close,” Agnew says. “They said prayers along the way, praying for each cause that we walked for. We reflected every day on why we were walking.”

Agnew says the youth had a “lot of energy” during the walk.

“They pushed us through a lot of the hard times,” Agnew says. “So it was a really good experience for them.”

Agnew says the patrol group was developed about two years ago. Long Lake #58 has about 467 on-reserve citizens.

“We patrol in our community each night taking care of the kids,” Agnew says. “There’s about 14-16 every night. They’re all high school students — they do it for their graduation hours.”

Former Long Lake #58 Chief Allen Towegishig, one of the Healing Walk organizers, says the walk went “pretty well” with about 35 walkers. The walkers prayed for a different issue on each day of the walk, including Drugs/Alcohol Addictions, Cancer, Missing Women/Men, Residential School/Day School Survivors/Descendants, Suicide, Land Water and Air and Racism.

“Every day, every time we pray for our brothers and sisters that have been suffering so much about suicide and drugs and alcohol and racism and everything else,” Towegishig says. “Everybody has special gifts, the Grandfathers, the Seven Teachings. If we live by the Teachings, we are going to get well. Today we walked by the beaver — the beaver’s got a lot of wisdom to pass on to us.”

Towegishig says the walkers focused on the suicide issue during their walk over the Nipigon River bridge on June 27.

“The Creator wanted us to walk on that bridge on suicide,” Towegishig says. “It was pretty hard for each one of us to walk for our family and our friends.”

Towegishig says there was a “very good response” from people passing by on the highway.

“Some were honking their horns, some stopped by,” Towegishig says. “And we had a lot of people on Facebook saying they were with us and they were praying for us. I really want to thank the Creator for gathering our youth — they are on the road, they are on the rock cuts, but still they have the energy to finish the day.”

Towegishig also thanked the sponsors and the communities along the route for helping to support the walkers.