Long Lake #58 teaching the youth of today to lead the youth of the future
By Rick Garrick
LONG LAKE #58 FIRST NATION—Chief of Long Lake #58, Veronica Waboose, recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Fasting and Traditional Teachings camp on the land for children eight to 12 years old.
“This is a special year because we included the kids on the other reserve,” Waboose says, noting that the other reserve, Ginoogaming, is located across the lake from her community.
“We went together and we were out in the bush for the month of July. We are working together and we are teaching our children the Native way of life out in the bush, the way we learned when our parents taught us.”
The Fasting and Traditional Teachings camp was held at Fernow Lake from July 4-7 for girls and July 11-14 for boys.
“They teach them the importance of the medicines and what they are used for,” Waboose says. “With the other kind of teachings, we make pouches for them to put their seven medicines in for protection when they come back home.”
Waboose says the children also participate in a fast during the camp.
“In the morning they don’t eat when they get up,” Waboose says. “They come to the lodge. We do pipe ceremony. They do sharing. They see the blessing of the berry and the water.”
Waboose says the community also held the third annual Vision Quest Teachings camp, which also included Ginoogaming youth, for youth aged 13 to 19 years old at Fernow Lake. The female youth attended the camp from July 18-21 and the male youth from July 25-28.
“We separate them because of the different teachings,” Waboose says. “There are different teachings between boys and girls. The last week the men taught the boys. They taught them about how they are supposed to survive in the world. Their teaching is looking after the family, and the woman is the care giver.”
After the four camps were finished this year, Waboose asked Long Lake #58’s band council what they could do to bring the camps into the community.
“The kids are different out there than they are here,” Waboose says. “How can I bring what I have out there, the way the kids are acting, how could I bring it back to our community so they could do all those things all year round.”
Waboose says the community is now looking at building a cultural centre for the children and youth after one of the band councilors suggested the idea.
“So that is what we are going to work towards, money to build our cultural centre to continue on these teachings that we have with our young children and our youth,” Waboose says.
Waboose also wants to encourage other communities to develop similar camps for their children and youth.
“We want to spread it to other First Nations,” Waboose says. “We want to keep it growing.”
Waboose stresses that she is getting too old to continue on with the camps. She initially started the Fasting and Traditional Teachings camp during a previous term as chief of the community.
“My mind says you can do this, but my body is saying no, you can’t do it anymore,” Waboose says. “So I am teaching young people to continue these teachings for the kids.”
Waboose says there has also been a suggestion that both communities could work together in the future, with one community hosting camps during the summer and the other hosting camps in the fall.
“So, you know, it’s looking up,” Waboose says. “When you have more people [involved], you have more ideas of what to do and how to make it better.”