Water Walk pauses at Nawash Park for a celebration of resolve

Water Walkers of Saugeen Ojibway Nation and Chippewas of Nawash
at the Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden, Tuesday, July 18.

Water Walkers carried their hopes for our future into a part of their past as women of Saugeen Ojibway Nation continued their journey around the edges of their ancient nation into Nawash Park today.

The Walkers gathered in celebration at the Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden at the southern tip of the park before continuing their journey to Meaford, the walk's beginning and end.

The noon-hour ceremony was organized by the Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden committee.

Supported by family and friends, hundreds of women and girls took part in the Walk, carrying water in a kettle from Georgian Bay in Meaford across to the Huron shore. With the addition of water from Sauble Beach the Walk continued to Colpoy's Bay, and then south to Owen Sound.

Water from the kettle will be released into Georgian Bay back in Meaford tomorrow.

Water Walks began in 2003 when Anishinaabe elder Josephine Mandamin set out on a path of protection, walking around Lake Superior with a small group of adults from different clans to raise awareness of society's increasing negligence towards water.

By 2007 all five Great Lakes had been included in the initative, and Water Walks have continued to focus attention on the increasing need for protection of both water and land.

The Saugeen Ojibway Nation faces environmental challenges on both sides of their traditional territory – the TC Energy pumped storage facility proposed for the Meaford area, the selection of South Bruce as one of two candidates for a deep high-level nuclear waste repository, and the recently announced potential expansion of Bruce Power's nuclear plant near Kincardine.

The long journey on the boundaries of their traditional lands, carrying the water in need of protection and the guidance of their ancestors, allows reflection and a re-acquaintance with the land as the Saugeen Ojibway Nation gathers wisdom for the consultations necessary for these massive projects, and our society, to move forward.

Generational bonds and understanding at the core of the Water Walk.

Water Walkers at the bottom of the hill leading to Nawash Park.