M’CHIGEENG—Water is the foundation of all life as we know it and to honour that important role that water plays in all of our lives, the community of M’Chigeeng played host to a Water Walk event that attracted more than 100 people from all across the region.
Rockville residents non-Native Steven Pruchnicki and his partner Kim Debassige, a M’Chigeeng First Nation band member, found the events unfolding in the Sioux Nation at Standing Rock North Dakota, where a protest against the Dakota pipeline extending across the Missouri River through traditional Sioux territory is taking place, to be inspiring. It got the couple to thinking about the important role that water plays in their lives.
“I have always held a deep and personal commitment to the water,” said Mr. Pruchnicki. “Living in Rockville, Green Bay beach is for me a very spiritual place.” The concept of the Water Walk seemed to be one way he could help to protect the life-giving water and keep it in a “clean and safe way.”
For Ms. Debassige, “my perspective, as a First Nations woman, an Anishinabe-kwe, water is medicine.” The Water Walk “spoke to who I am and my people. We know that things are happening to the water and if we come together to do ceremonies to protect the water, to pray for the water, it is something that we can do, as a single person, as two people and as a community.”
As these things tend to develop in First Nations communities, the couple hosted a number of elders at their home to talk about how things should unfold and what should be included in the ceremonies that would take place.
“That is very much a part of how these things are done,” said Mr. Pruchnicki. “It is the community that comes together to make things happen.”
Although they were a catalyst for the event, the couple stressed that it was the local community, and the broader communities, that eventually brought it to fruition.
The Water Walk started out at Otter Lake in M’Chigeeng and wound its way through the community to end up at the M’Chigeeng beach on West Bay, across from Manitoulin Secondary School.
At the beginning and the end of the walk, ceremonies were conducted with offerings of medicines to the waters. The medicine bundle carried on the walk was constructed of red broadcloth and contained semmaa (tobacco) and traditional foods such as moose meat, wild rice, beans and corn with which to feed the water spirits.
“It was wonderful to see so many people, elders from so many communities across the Island, and people from every ethnicity coming together to honour the water,” said Mr. Pruchnicki.
“M’Chigeeng is my home community,” said Ms. Debassige, “but there were a lot of people there that I didn’t even know. They were there to honour and help protect the water.”
Following the ceremony, the couple packed up and headed down the road, destination Standing Rock. They brought with them messages of encouragement and solidarity for the people standing up against the corporate machine that they believe threaten the water with the pipeline that will cross the Missouri River and threaten the water supply of the Sioux Nation. They also brought a medicine bundle containing medicines to offer ceremonies to the waters they met along their journey.
When they arrived in Standing Rock, things were peaceful. “We didn’t have any sense of fear,” noted Mr. Pruchnicki. “In fact, everything was very positive and loving, even when we went as close to the front line as we could without being arrested.”
Asked if the recent US election had any reaction in the protest camp, the couple was adamant. “We didn’t hear anything about politics,” they both stressed. In fact, they were admonished by one of the local elders at Standing Rock to avoid commenting on the broader politics, to stay focussed on the plight of the water and the matter at hand, to not detract from the message of protecting the water.
“Everything was very loving and peaceful,” said Ms. Debassige. “There were people there from all over the world who had come to stand in solidarity with the water. It was beautiful to see.”
While travelling back from Standing Rock, the couple paused at each waterway to unroll the medicine bundle they had been gifted with during the M’Chigeeng Water Walk to offer those medicines and to hold ceremonies for the water.
The Water Walk in M’Chigeeng was also apolitical as such. “It wasn’t a rally, or a protest, or anything like that,” stressed Ms. Debassige. “This was about honouring the water.”
Honour it they did, with four eagle staffs taking part, a host of youth and elders from all across Manitoulin and beyond taking part in the walks and ceremonies.
While they were agreeing to talk about the Water Walk and their experiences in travelling to North Dakota, the couple were adamant that the story was not about them, but rather about communities coming together to honour and to protect the water and that a great many people had come together to help make it happen.