Anishinabek Water Walkers set to honour water this month

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory’s Sharon Manitowabi and a group of Anishinabek Water Walkers from both sides of the Medicine Line are planning a 30-day Water Walk around Naadowewi-Gichigami (Lake Huron) beginning on July 21. Information about the Water Walk is posted online.

“We’re going to be walking the whole circumference of Lake Huron, Naadowewi-Gichigami, beginning on St. Joseph Island at the Fort (St. Joseph National) Historic Site,” says Manitowabi, lead Water Walker for the Naadowewi-Gichigami Water Walk. “We’ll be going eastward all the way around and 30 days later, we will be completing the walk in Detour, Michigan.”

The Grandmothers walk to honour Nibi (Water) and connect the communities around the bodies of water, and speak to Nibi and all of the water spirits, and pray for the return of healthy rivers, lakes, and oceans for the generations to come. Manitowabi says they have about eight to 10 core walkers who will be participating in the Water Walk.

“We have quite a few grandmothers that have walked in a lot of walks that are joining us,” Manitowabi says. “In the preliminary planning for this and discussion with them, they were so appreciative of a major walk like this — it was kind of missed by the walkers. They agreed to provide teachings to the younger walkers they meet along the way and to spend time actually doing that with them, providing the water teachings because it’s all about our relationship with the water. It is a Water Walk, but it’s not about the walk, it’s about the water and our relationship with that water.”

Manitowabi says they also plan to encourage people from local communities along the route to join in with them on the Water Walk.

“There’s lots of Water Walking groups that have been active all the way around that lake, including the Michigan area,” Manitowabi says. “We’re hoping the local walkers will come and take the vessel and carry it through their traditional territory and join us in the ceremony.”

Manitowabi says she participated during two of the late Grandmother Water Walker Josephine Mandamin-baa’s Water Walks.

“I wish I had been able to do more with her, but even those two years, 2015 and 2017, were a great experience for me,” Manitowabi says. “It actually changed my whole focus of my life, it brought me to learn about the traditional aspects of our life, it brought me to the lodge, and it made me into a dedicated Water Walker.”

Manitowabi says she was the late Grandmother Water Walker’s helper during the 2017 Water Walk from Duluth, Minnesota, to Matane, Quebec.

“I drove for her and spent most of my days with her,” Manitowabi says. “I was so gifted to be able to do that with her on her last walk. One of her main messages was to keep walking, that we need to share this with other women.”

Manitowabi says she initiated the Love of the Rivers 2.0 Water Walks in Thunder Bay.

“We’re completing year three right now, we have one more walk to do,” Manitowabi says, noting that they will be doing the McVicar Creek Water Walk in September in Thunder Bay. “Next year, there will be another four walks that need to be completed and then we’ll be done with that series. We do encourage women to have that relationship not just with the walks themselves but to visit the water and to offer their prayers and tobacco to the water on a regular basis.”

Manitowabi says Connor Peltier, a youth who has walked in “quite a few” Water Walks, will be joining the Water Walk as an Eagle Staff Carrier.

“And there are quite a few other young people too that will be joining,” Manitowabi says. “I find that as soon as they hold that pail [of water] or they hold the staff, something significant happens to them and they get it, they know that water is important.”