0:04

hello everyone i’m amy calvelli and i’m the adjunct curator of design at the pool center of design which is this

0:10

gallery here and happy to share with you uh some work that wanda and lana whiskey jack have

0:17

prepared and curated together um this can you hear me okay through this i think some people are having

0:24

issues this uh this exhibition started about a

0:30

year ago uh i had um reached out to wanda

0:35

and asked her um if we were to talk about water from your

0:40

perspective what should we be talking about and it resulted in i think uh one

0:46

or two conversations a month for a period of at least seven or eight months uh as we developed this program and

0:53

wanda connected with lana whiskey jack and both of them co-curated this exhibition in the space that we’re in

1:00

today um so it it’s the full exhibition is kind of a comparison between uh the

1:06

amazon and the north saskatchewan river and the satellite first nation is part of the north saskatchewan river

1:12

watershed so it seemed a fitting conversation and i think one of the things that really struck me when wanda

1:18

was first having a conversation about this was really the fact that um we were

1:23

talking about voices when we think about who has the decision power who’s at the conference tables

1:29

when we’re thinking about water um some voices are missing and i think we really felt it was important and i

1:35

underwondered lana’s lead to have different voices at the table as we think about water and so

1:41

that’s what today is about it’s a real opportunity for us to start listening differently and i’m really excited about

1:47

that um i will briefly introduce um uh the two curators and uh first is

1:55

wanda de la costa who is an architect and uh she’s also a professor

2:01

um she has a couple of uh credentials to her name that i’m really excited about one is the yerba buena center for the

2:08

arts 100 um in 2019 so she was selected as one of 100 people that were creating

2:14

a cultural shift across the globe and that’s quite nice um she’s also the first first nations uh

2:21

woman to be an architect in canada and uh she also recently as of last

2:26

month uh the raic which is the um administrative body for architects in

2:32

canada um has given her an honorary fellowship for this year so um very very

2:38

wonderful work that rhonda’s been doing and we’re delighted to have you here today uh dr lana whiskey jack uh sends her

2:45

regret she is actually online but she’s not in person today uh but she is uh she

2:51

has been um very instrumental in the people that are in the room today and

2:56

has done a lot of incredible work around this this wanda is a multi-disciplinary uh treaty

3:03

scholars and scholars means scholar and visual art activist

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uh her research and writings have been grounded in uh

3:14

yahoo ceremony i i think i messed that up ceremony and nehem

3:21

which is the kri language of revitalized indigenous ways of knowing and being

3:27

she is an associate professor in the department of women’s gender studies at the university of alberta so she is

3:35

online listening and if she says anything she may text us so that we can add it in we’re sorry that she’s not

3:40

here in person um i have also been asked to just into this briefly the other people that wanda

3:47

and lana have curated so that you can know who they are uh jesse jesse cardinal right here

3:53

is um uh sorry i’m pronouncing it wrong

4:01

kim i should have asked kim p kim keno mati settlement 286

4:06

uh she is the executive director of the keepers of the water which is an uh

4:12

incredible organization that is elevating a decolonized discourse around

4:17

traditional and indigenous rights around water and governance

4:22

he’s been working through the lens of education research and policy development

4:29

um and we also have kevin lewis who is to the right to the left sorry

4:35

and kevin is the kanyaskik cultural camp uh is part of the

4:41

cultural camp and excuse my pronunciation i’m trying and and i still it’s important to say it

4:47

even wrong so but right would be better um and so she he is um

4:53

that this camp for those that don’t know has done uh some incredible camps around hyde training um pre-emergent immersion

5:00

and land-based school around research so we’re really delighted to have both of you here today

5:06

and then we have some youth and you may see some uh pictures around the wall we’re all created by youth there in this

5:13

room today we have sugita right here um who is um very interested

5:20

she’s from the uh minnesotan first nation and her passion is deep water swimming

5:27

um alexi who is and alexi is uh very much into hockey

5:34

playing and is from the satellite first nation stella cardinal

5:41

right here um loves to ride horses and she is from the keep now first

5:47

nation and caleb balon

5:58

um loves dance and food he tells me yeah and he has quite amazing balance

6:13

[Music] that’s his name and uh from the paper

6:21

chase rocky mountain um house is where his heritage comes from

6:27

i know cadence survived yet but i didn’t get i heard that she was

6:33

here cadence will be here as well yeah so without further ado i will pass this to wanda who will be kind of uh leading

6:40

the conversation in the direction that you wish to take it thank you [Applause]

6:50

thank you and as i understand this is just for the people who are tuning in via zoom i have one here so i actually

6:57

don’t need the microphone and i’ll project as loudly as i can i know this there’s a lot of people

7:04

in this room and thank you so much for coming today um i wanted to start out with um

7:12

a little bit more of an acknowledgement and have a moment of silence sorry

7:17

there are people in italy right now at the vatican

7:22

our residential school survivors are there to create awareness of the people who

7:28

went to boarding school and residential school in our country the pope is going to apologize

7:34

so i think we should be celebrating this moment but we should definitely recognize this moment so with that i

7:40

would like to take just a 20 seconds or so to recognize not

7:46

only the residential school survivors but also the people the descendants of those which i am

7:52

and the people who have made their way to italy to create awareness around this so with

7:58

that let’s take a moment hmm

8:23

thank you

8:29

it’s okay [Music]

8:37

thank you everyone and just at the moment as we’re about to speak of water we had a little bit of a water spill of

8:43

a glass of water so our spirits are with us today not to worry it doesn’t matter it’s just

8:50

water to be spilt so um as amory said i’m an architect and

8:56

when she called and asked me why what i want to show of water

9:01

you know i know there are people who have uh um who work with water every day

9:08

and i wanted to invite other people to this conversation and most importantly when i work as an architect the most

9:15

important advisors for me are not only our elders which you see their words written across we interviewed had a

9:22

conversation with three elders so we created their words on this wall which i think was important but then we also

9:28

work as architects sandwiched also between our youth who are the leaders of the next generation and this to me is

9:34

such a powerful place to be positioned right we are listening to our youth of what’s important to them and we are also

9:41

being guided by our elders so what you see are pictures on the wall taken by a number of youth that are in

9:47

this room and what i’d love to do because this is to me about bringing awareness from all perspectives

9:54

is eventually i would love to have the youth who take who took these pictures many are in this room with us

10:00

if they feel okay to talk about their picture why they took it you know my earliest member memories as a child

10:07

regarding water we didn’t have right running water at cookham’s house at grandmother’s house i have a lot of fond memories of the

10:14

well even we had a double outhouse that i have very fond memories you had a partner

10:20

to join my sister was out there with me with our comic books and i think we have you know there’s a

10:26

different relationship with water and i think the pictures that we see on this wall are really important because they

10:32

are our next generation’s view of water guided beneath by our elders

10:37

so that is the work that i do i work you know all across north america on architecture projects but water is

10:43

becoming such a big issue we hear about it all the time how our water is being protected how we can develop resiliency

10:51

with regard to water scarcity of water the the loss of water i’m in currently

10:58

living in arizona right now you know the water’s being diverted and a lot of our first nation and

11:05

indigenous people are suffering from the diversion of water and so i think this is an issue that we

11:11

really need to bring awareness around and what i want to say before i pass it on to um

11:17

the the folks that have joined here today kevin and jesse is that i often feel that our indigenous

11:23

people are the canary birds for many things in this world

11:29

you know everyone knows the canary birds that’s where we used to they used to go in the coal mines beneath and they would be the first ones to smell the gases

11:37

so that they could warn everyone to get out of the mines and i see these issues um the issue of

11:43

water because a lot of our people still live very close to the land they are experiencing the issues of environmental

11:50

degradation more so than we do in the city as we’re living in our you know air-conditioned glass boxes we don’t

11:55

really notice but a lot of our indigenous people are noticing one of the most powerful pictures i saw

12:02

of late was indigenous people they were in the islands the fijian or the polynesian islands and they were having

12:08

dinner at a dinner table in the water was right up to the top of that table and they were just having a casual

12:13

dinner sitting in the water to make a statement that years back they would be

12:18

sitting on land and now the waters are rising and that island and those indigenous people are endangered

12:25

they are the canary birds and so i come here today really about awareness

12:31

really about opening a conversation i think some of these topics are hard and i think when we’re in dialogue

12:37

and we have a chance to express and be open and it’s a safe space to talk about it we all learn and we can always we can

12:43

all move forward in a better way so with that um i forgot the order

12:50

but i’m going to pass it on to was it kevin or jessie

12:56

who would like to jump in

13:16

[Music]

13:46

so i agreed everybody i thank everybody for organizing this as well as the

13:52

uh the leadership from both uh miso ayah uh dr lana whiskey jack and as well as

13:57

working in the circles with uh an indigenous architect that’s uh

14:03

not only building spaces for uh learning but spaces to uh promote language um i don’t know if

14:11

she she didn’t say any too much about this but uh she’s also part of a project in saskatoon where i sit in

14:18

uh creating a bilingual school creating immersion immersion programming

14:23

uh making sure languages don’t disappear and i’m glad that you you gave that silence because i because of that as

14:30

well because i went to residential school and um i also worked 10 years in

14:36

residential school i heard those ghosts i seen those ghosts and then now [Music]

14:42

in our way of life um we feed them we have ceremony for them

14:48

waters involved we have ghost dance ceremonies

14:58

we tie it up and we go throw it in water make sure it’s a clean place of water and don’t look back

15:03

because there’s something there that we just did and we made a connection with that water that importance of water in

15:09

the sun dance the old man they’ll dance around and they’ll they’ll be sung and they’ll tell a story between their their

15:15

relationship and their relationship with water and how close they la how close it was that they lost

15:22

their life because of the power of water and uh i sit here with my wife and my

15:28

kids so some of the responsibility of the

15:34

little ones here the ones that have come to our camp and uh it’s a camp where we try to have

15:41

a safe place where we can lift our pipes it’s a camp where nistawa he’s come

15:48

supported our camps come teach come learn off of us uh pretty soon the sap is going to be

15:54

running from the uh the trees and also uh dr

15:59

kim that’s a brother of ours as well that’s a family member so i’m just trying to do a little uh a little

16:07

just acknowledgement and of course jess uh for being a part of that research project that that’s been happening every

16:14

every year for next four years uh we’re gathering because of water we’re the first one was women in water

16:20

the second one was medicine and water and what’s the theme for this year it’s medicine and water medicine and water

16:27

part two i guess right because we didn’t have enough we ran out of time because it flies by

16:33

so fast when you’re talking and hanging out right beside water and you have knowledge keepers there and you have

16:39

these little ones you know enjoying the gardens enjoying um the lake enjoying paddling

16:46

enjoying each other’s company so it’s a real um it’s uh what we call magic but we also

16:53

call it increa kinship and uh that’s what we try to promote we

16:58

try to promote kinship from the land and when we’re when we talk about kinship nippy mantua

17:06

and i was telling my my little ones here on the way up you guys are going to be talking in front of people i don’t know

17:11

how i don’t know if you understand how big a how big a thing that you’re going

17:16

to you know and so they listened you know and uh they lasted one

17:23

anyway they lasted one one sacred story and these are the sacred stories that we

17:28

sing about in our lodges we sing about we sing about the flood we sing about

17:34

how important that is those teachings that we’re seeing we’re starting to see those relatives

17:40

that their you know their living room is being flooded i heard those people in new zealand

17:46

talk talk to us and they’re saying yeah you guys from the big islands what about us from the

17:51

little islands uh we have to move our houses a little higher you know so i heard those people

17:57

in new zealand those uh in the cook islands in the canary islands and all those lower place

18:04

islands where they call home so now i also heard uh through zoom and

18:10

i’m very glad that this is on zoom um about these big

18:15

big holes in uh green land these ice sheets that are melting at an unbelievable rate right

18:22

now and again when you’re talking climate change when you’re talking um

18:29

you know the world um we have to sort of sort of teach these little ones a new way to think

18:36

a new way to live in the future um you know growing food maybe through

18:41

hydroponics maybe growing food uh all year round

18:46

and thinking maybe in a 100 mile or 200 kilometer radius and trying to find

18:54

feed ourselves make sure that uh that cost of water

19:00

the cost of gas you know so there’s there’s a whole bunch of different things that that i

19:05

think these little ones are telling us with their photography and then the the vision that

19:10

these two leaders these indigenous leaders that uh made this happen

19:17

um i i just uh i’m just really proud of the little ones

19:22

you young people tiny business they’re here because they want to listen

19:28

to you guys not us they want to listen to what you guys have to say and i want to encourage you guys not to

19:34

be shy but it’s always really nice to talk from here with a big squeak

19:39

right without speak squeak and just share why you took these photographs

19:44

and how beautiful they are look at they’re all here on a saturday they could be doing something else right but

19:50

you guys are here and thank you for that support as well and um there are some stories of course

19:57

and it is a dialogue we’re trained to talk for hours and hours i don’t know if you know i’m a i’m

20:02

a professor at the u of s so we can talk this little guy was like are you getting nervous you’re getting nervous no this

20:09

is this i love this right this is this is my kind of circle so thank you

20:14

for creating this circle and i’ll hand this over to uh miss me now

20:20

so i want to thank you all for coming today um i have a really quiet voice so

20:28

uh i usually depend on a microphone when i do public speaking so please bear with

20:34

me because i i feel so weird to yell although my kids would probably say otherwise

20:41

um but yeah it’s really good to see you guys here um james i heard dr

20:46

cora voyager who i feel like we need to meet um people from my own community kikino

20:54

and all of you i yeah i want to thank lana her husband james is here

21:01

we’ve worked with them and um wanda for putting this together

21:07

i i’ve been with keepers of the water so i’m jesse cardinal i’m from kikino metis settlement

21:13

and i’ve been working with keepers of the water since about 11. i started out as a coordinator

21:21

and she was born in 2010 so she’s been on many conference calls been to gatherings

21:28

i’d be putting her to bed and our old boss harvey scott would be putting her

21:34

to sleep by talking about our you know through our board meetings and things like that so they grew up around that

21:40

uh and i’m happy to be able to be bringing my kids here because um

21:45

uh being land-based like living in the community of kikino we grow up on the land so it’s just it’s

21:53

just natural and i tell people um you know what because we didn’t have

21:59

running water when i was a kid and and we got it from the well and i always tell people i’ll never forget the taste

22:05

of the water back then like that’s something that i’ll never forget and that was instilled in me and i think

22:12

that’s part of how i came because i i can’t say that anybody taught me how to be a water keeper but what i’m learning

22:18

through my education going to blue quills and kevin’s camp and the different knowledge keepers is

22:24

women that’s our role uh as women were water keepers and so

22:30

that’s probably how it came to be and so at a young age at like 19 20 i

22:36

started to see the changes happening in my own community land being cleared more roads being built the changes in the

22:43

animals and i remember going to one community meeting when we used to have regular

22:49

monthly meetings from council and i remember going to one meeting and i was talking about the lake and i was

22:55

in my early 20s 1920 and i said we need to take care of our lake

23:01

and people looked at me like i had 10 heads because that was like 20 years ago and laughed at me my you know and i said

23:08

well you guys aren’t gonna be laughing when we don’t have clean water to drink and and now today our lake is under

23:14

threat and um so that’s just a little bit about my journey but the one thing i do want to

23:20

tell you guys keepers of the water it’s an indigenous lead organization we work to protect water it was formed in 2006

23:28

and we’re guided by a declaration that says water is sacred and that we must we must work to protect it

23:34

and we take that responsibility very seriously and we’re a very diverse organization you can look at our website

23:42

keepersofthewater.ca for some of the work that we do [Music] but the one thing that i want to talk

23:48

about while i have you all here is what the alberta government is proposing to do right now is the tar sands in fort

23:55

mcmurray is the biggest industrial project on the planet and that was confirmed to me i

24:02

attended a workshop through the u of a sustainability department the other day and they confirmed that because i used

24:08

to say it’s one of the biggest it’s the biggest industrial project on the planet

24:14

they have 19 tailings ponds the tailings ponds are enough to give 17

24:21

000 people um drinking water for a million years it’s on a narwhal

24:29

article it’s just i try to have people understand the enormity of these tailings ponds so what

24:34

tailings ponds are because we’re trying to to educate people ourselves we’re working with c-paws and um

24:41

environmental defense and we take it for granted because i talk about tailings pawns all the time that people know what

24:46

they are but what tailings pawns are is the byproduct from when they’re extracting

24:52

the bitumen up in the up in formic marine they’re so toxic and so poisonous that anything that lands on them will

24:59

die they have it’s like if you guys have ever been up to fort mcmurray past fort mcmurray it’s it’s like you’re walking

25:05

into another world it’s like mordor um you see desert you see you hear the

25:11

sounds of gunshots because they’re mimicking gunshots everything to try and keep wildlife

25:17

from these tailings ponds and so they’re growing because these companies

25:24

they they don’t care about they don’t care about us they care about their money they have enough oil to meet all of our

25:31

needs and what they do is they fool especially indigenous commun communities they fool them to think that you can’t

25:37

have a vehicle you can’t have heat in your home you can’t have your basic necessities if we don’t keep extracting

25:44

from the tar sands and that’s a l more than enough to meet people’s needs

25:49

what we’re doing is meeting the company’s grades so that people can own big yachts and islands and things that

25:55

aren’t even realistic and so that these companies want to keep growing and growing and growing and

26:00

these tailings ponds are growing and growing and the the indigenous communities are

26:06

so concerned about these tailings ponds because the athabasca river some of these tailings ponds are two kilometers

26:12

away from the river um so if they break that that will devastate the

26:17

the river but that’s not our problem that’s not the indigenous people’s problem that’s the company’s problem but

26:22

what they want to do is just dump it so they’re starting to say we can treat it not to a level that’s still safe to

26:29

drink but that it’ll need more treatment and they want to start dumping it

26:35

what we have done with keepers of the waters we’re working and i’ll wrap up in like two minutes what we have done with keepers of the waters we’re working with

26:41

a team of scientists that are taking this information coming straight from industry straight from the

26:47

government that shows it is still not safe there’s high levels of something called nathanic acid which is

26:53

cancer-causing and saline and saline is like salt so fresh water

26:59

is like lakes you cannot have saline in lakes because it warms the temperature

27:04

of the water and fish need cold water in fresh water so the fish will die and

27:10

eventually will die and so we’re working really hard with other organizations to stop this from

27:16

happening i had a meeting with the federal environment minister the other day um you know and these opportunities are

27:23

coming and and i told them you have the chance to stop this because this cannot happen without the federal government

27:29

okaying it um and so we’re just trying to get the word out there as much as we can you

27:35

know and we’re going to be putting up more information on our website of how you guys can get involved and how you

27:40

can lend your voice to stop this from happening because what i’m telling people is even if you’re in a city it

27:46

affects you because that’s contr that means that the tar sands are going to be able to grow which is going to

27:52

contribute to climate change and you guys are going to see flooding like we’re all going to feel those impacts

27:58

and the other thing i said is if it’s allowed to happen there guaranteed it’s going to be allowed to happen in other

28:04

places like it’s going to be an international human rights crime is what i’m calling it so i’m raising the alarm

28:10

bell and that’s part of the work that we do with keepers but we also do fun stuff like partnering with kevin um and jody

28:16

his wife on the on the land-based learning and so i’m just really thankful that you are all here to hear the

28:22

diversity of all of the conversation that we’re going to have for talking about water so thank you hi heinen’s

28:28

compton thank you and i would love if our

28:34

our artists in the making would like to show one of their pictures and tell us a

28:41

little bit about it and we can walk with you

28:54

come let’s go see your artwork you can just tell me about it because it’s on

28:59

we’re on zoom i’ll come with you

29:17

come i’ll come with you tell me about your picture this is our next generation the leaders

29:23

you can just talk to me like you’re talking just to me

29:40

so uh you might have to turn around because they might have to hear your

29:47

i got you okay so this picture

29:53

if you tell me i’ll yell it out okay so there’s a picture here um we had we had a camp with these four

29:59

teenage boys this picture they had a camp with four four boys

30:04

four teenage boys

30:10

so uh during sharing this this photo we went to go traffic when we went traffic

30:15

for some fans they went during this picture when it was taken they went trapping for

30:21

animals did you catch animals uh

30:26

not from what i heard so so uh after this school we went to like

30:32

this little pond area and but

30:38

so we said we set a beaver trap there so so we waited uh two two days yeah for

30:45

the results they set a beaver trap after this they went to a pond set a beaver trap but

30:52

they didn’t catch anything they waited two days so there’s a picture of water thank you

31:00

all right

31:07

our brave next generation where did she

31:27

uh yeah

31:43

so every time we talk about water one of caleb’s first responses is water is life

31:49

it doesn’t matter what situation we’re in where we’re at that’s what he says water is life

31:54

and when i take him out to the lakes or the rivers we take off his shoes and his afos and

32:00

roll up his pants and we’ll roll him as far into the water as we can and he will sit there for hours this is the only

32:07

time i’ve seen him in front of me oh and throwing rocks he said we will

32:15

sit there for hours and he will throw rocks this is one of the few times where he’ll sit and just be

32:21

for hours and not want to go anywhere and splash right yeah

32:26

good job do you want to talk about the water in your picture yeah okay

32:32

uh uh see me up there

32:39

yep you do oh okay

32:45

i’m drinking water yeah

32:51

okay yeah i do say hi jay dude

32:58

yeah yeah you know water is like medicine for caleb because of his health needs

33:06

is that true yeah what else do you see in the picture

33:12

[Music] is there ice yeah why did you put ice in the picture i

33:19

know you don’t know did it seem right

33:32

does that plant need water too yeah it does does that make you and the plant a lake yeah that you need water yeah yeah

33:41

is there anything else you want to tell all these people what is life

33:48

thank you thank you

33:54

look at these brave artists in the making thank you so much for sharing

34:01

yes all right here’s your mic

34:17

they were fever trapping yeah they were beaver trapping a lot of beaver trapping today

34:23

and we caught one beaver so they caught one beaver

34:29

i just was taking a picture from a distance and

34:34

[Music] it looks like it was snowing

34:40

which is kind of like water a little bit excellent

34:47

that’s good

34:52

what does water mean to you um

34:58

it’s like it means that it needs um

35:06

love and love

35:11

and care oh thank you it water means love and caring

35:19

i hi thank you thank you

35:28

[Music] so we’ll go with stella and then we’ll go with cadence

35:34

so stella picked this photo uh so what do you want us what do you want to tell us about the photo do you

35:41

want to talk about the photo at all and what’s happening in the photo yeah

35:48

stardust is the orange one um he’s very old

35:56

raven’s the other one and she hangs out with stardust

36:01

a lot and what do what what do you want to tell us about horses

36:07

and why horses are important and why they they matter and why they need water

36:13

um because my papa used to like use them for

36:19

pulling and to go get hay oh yeah and horse log

36:35

because two of them are mine and also i just like seeing them

36:41

what can you tell us about water um

36:54

everybody needs it everybody needs water good job stuff

37:00

all right it’s your first public speaking

37:07

and this is cadence breton she’s also from uh her dad’s from saddle lake cree nation and her mom’s from kikino she’s

37:14

such a sweet amazing uh girl young lady which picture did you take

37:20

or do you want to talk about okay so what do you want to tell us about the photo

37:26

um we needed it before because our cap

37:32

so your top broke so you use this for water okay and what else do you want to tell us

37:39

what does what does water mean to you so do you guys follow your water

37:50

what are you learning about water it’s important for

37:56

people and things you guys spend a lot of time out on the

38:03

land your family i know you guys hunt moose and you do all of these things um

38:09

and and just that all of that wouldn’t exist without water do you want to tell us a couple of things that you guys like

38:16

doing in the fall like maybe a bit about your moose hunting um we mostly go out

38:21

quieting and see all the um

38:27

like lay or not likes like them ponds and stuff out there and

38:33

they’re nice i guess so they’re very land-based people they’re out hunting and camping they do

38:40

gardening so very connected to the land and i’m just so thankful that the youth are getting

38:45

this opportunity because they’re gonna remember this and when they become you know as they grow in their journey

38:50

they’re gonna realize that the lives that they’re living are are really connected to water

38:56

um more than they realize and so i’m just thankful again for this opportunity and for the youth thank you cadence

39:03

thank you [Applause]

39:10

thank you to all of our youth and we wanted to open it up for spend the last 10 minutes with a q a

39:17

um but i i i hope that you see from what is written on the walls you know in the

39:22

in the opening um description it talks about abundance this is about abundance

39:27

this is about resilience and this is about scarcity it’s about all of the above

39:34

so i open it up to all of you i know there’s a lot of information from the elders words and of course now we have

39:39

the perspectives of the children so we would love to answer any questions tremendous resources on either side of

39:46

me that are very land-based people so please ask a question while you have a chance

39:52

yeah and i don’t know if we need oh i guess we do need the mic for the zoom folks

39:57

i’m wondering if you might be willing to speak to what you see is the difference between how the dominant society settler society

40:04

sees water and how your people see water if there’s anything you might say about

40:10

the difference between how it’s even held or seen yeah but i’ll answer this question

40:16

and it was something uh i think that’s very important and i wanted to acknowledge

40:22

uh right there in the back we did a paddle uh

40:28

you know a few years back there was that last summer already that was just last summer i guess that wasn’t very long ago

40:34

but it was a saskatchewan river and as we were paddling right at the tail end we made it to uh

40:41

fort pitt and that’s where treaty six was signed and then as we were uh lifting the pipe

40:48

one the old man that was uh well i shouldn’t call him old man you probably won’t let me i won’t like that

40:54

but the knowledge holder the elder will say um uh he said ah

41:01

because we use the birchbark canoe we used our own power to get there but it was

41:07

really significant for him as well because he he met us a couple of times along the journey and he must have been saying

41:13

prayers himself but then where was really significant was when we were sitting to do that pipe

41:19

ceremony he said you know uh the story was telling them

41:24

and there’s still a little bit of snow uh here in uh uh here in this area so it’s all right

41:31

to tell these stories still but there was a flood story

41:38

and when this flood happened just like all of us are sitting in our seats that’s how the animals the birds the

41:45

our relatives were sitting on islands and it was just a flood it was just like

41:50

all these tiny little islands they weren’t sure where food was going to come from they weren’t sure if there was

41:56

enough food there to sustain the beaver the moose and the animals our relatives

42:02

it wasn’t until the water spirit the woman water spirit started moving

42:08

and that’s the river that we that we paddled on these are these streams this is that

42:13

that that flows through here this is the one that we’re paddling and he says uh

42:19

it was the woman’s spirit that took pity on us that’s why us two leggets are still here that’s why the four leggeds

42:25

are still here because they could get on that flowing river and flow to a place where there’s berries where they could

42:31

flow to a place where there’s things to eat and possibly give you shelter give you a future right so that

42:39

spirit of water there’s female and male spirit so again it’s it’s not a element to us

42:47

it’s a relative and if we get dehydrated this doesn’t work very well right

42:53

and uh it’s it’s it’s like that right now we need to really i i flew over and

42:58

i paddled that athabasca river and we had to carry our water we could i’m a fish i love fish we couldn’t we

43:06

couldn’t eat that fish there was moose there i couldn’t i couldn’t harvest that moose because of the toxicity right so

43:14

again um innovation you know i’m not saying

43:20

don’t take the scientists words for it please do but also understand the spirit

43:25

of water right that we can pray to that water for healing we can pray to those teas for healing any ailments that we

43:32

might have lastly innovation is starting to happen

43:39

with circles like this right because we live in urban settings we uh we teamed up with a

43:46

non-indigenous uh company a resort called firesong and

43:52

they’re the biggest privately owned fire in catchment uh

43:59

what did they call themselves rain water rain water catchment that’s the biggest rainwater catchment

44:05

in canada that’s privately owned so again all the water that’s coming there’s ways where you can filter it

44:12

ways that you can capture it uh for you know all our different uses of water right so

44:18

again using technology using the the elders knowledge and using the stories

44:23

that come from uh turtle island in our views i think you know that’s it’s a good recipe for

44:31

reconciliation it’s a good place to start building and start listening to the elders

44:36

on all sides right so we need the scientists we need those elders we need those people to

44:42

keep on praying and then uh i like this uh one old man he said if you pray in

44:47

the uh if you pray in the church pray in a church if you pray in the lodges you pray in lodges you pray in your homes

44:54

pray in your homes in your private in your private uh dwellings um

45:00

but keep on praying because it is spirit it’s it has spirit

45:06

and we talk to that spirit because we know we’re related to it right so again hopefully that

45:12

sheds a little bit of light on that yeah another question

45:22

um the all these photos are absolutely lovely i

45:27

think this one back here uh resonates with me very well we have

45:33

uh this child just kind of rumbling in the snow of it which is absolutely fantastic

45:40

um and what i was hoping was that uh someone could speak to us about how

45:45

water is heritage and what that means heritage

45:57

thank you i’m getting my steps in here today so that’s actually uh my daughter eva

46:04

in the snow and um that’s what i was gonna say is we living

46:09

in the land we we live it you know so when when he when tad tad hargrave who’s

46:18

actually kind of semi-famous by the way um talked about uh

46:24

how the difference is for water so right now it’s spring and the water’s starting

46:29

to melt and because we live in the land we notice everything and so

46:35

we had such a dry summer last summer there was only a couple snowfalls it was

46:41

and so the earth right now is just soaked everything up because it was so dry like normally you have like all

46:47

kinds of runoff and flooding you’re not seeing that this year because even though we had so much snow the the earth

46:55

is just drinking that up and as the snow is melting um the earth is thawing and so uh right

47:03

now is um well march was just nisky p-sum so all of the geese are you know starting to

47:10

come back and what we’re starting to do is bring back ceremony to honor the the all of

47:15

the winged ones like to really to really um acknowledge their journey of how far

47:21

they fly i was just in class this morning and there there’s one bird that travels from

47:27

alaska all the way to new zealand and he goes eight days without any food or water or stopping he flies for eight

47:33

days like they’re amazing you know like it’s not just us here and that’s what i’m teaching my kids like every everywhere

47:40

we go walk it’s like they understand where the frogs live we know where the frogs live we know where the foxes live

47:47

we know where the coyote dens are um the butterflies the caterpillars the

47:52

bees we know where the squirrels live like it’s not just our home and that’s what our kids are learning and so when

47:59

we’re out in the snow it’s just it’s just part of being uh like

48:04

like you know living out on the land it’s like it’s a part of our lifestyle it’s just natural to be outside any time

48:11

of the year so i hope that answers your question and then this this month is aighi pisum so it’s the the frog month

48:18

so as the ground thaws the frogs are so you’re gonna start hearing them and you’re gonna

48:24

start and so we play paying close attention to the weather and what i wanted to say is um you know how are you

48:30

how are we connected to water and the scientists so the north saskatchewan river which edmonton depends on is an

48:35

at-risk river what’s happening because people have lost the understanding of how to take

48:40

care of water these small towns and communities are are not taking care of their lakes

48:46

tourism takeover so people are coming with all their boats um and they’re just

48:52

totally crowding these lakes where the lakes are starting to die because lakes need oxygen to live and they need to

48:58

stay at a cold temperature and if there’s a lot of boats on the lakes then the temperature gets warmer because of

49:05

all the gasoline and the chemicals and the runoff so lakes can die and so what’s happening is these lakes

49:11

are dying in the municipalities is they’re piping water from the north

49:17

to meet these communities needs it’s indigenous and non-indigenous communities that are doing this

49:22

and so they think that water is just gonna be there for they take it you know as a human species we take

49:29

water for granted that it’s always we’re gonna get it from somewhere well the north saskatchewan river is at risk the

49:35

water levels are are gonna are getting lower and if we have dry seasons you know like we’re all gonna be in trouble

49:41

and then also what we put down our drains so this is the last thing i’ll say is

49:47

kids that my kids like what we put down our drains um you know goes back into the water

49:53

system and i used to say well because the we all everybody whatever we put down

49:58

our drains so i stopped using bleach and um and uh laundry soap i used baking

50:04

soda i’m trying to like learn as much as i can you know and it’s not easy because because of capitalism and colonialism

50:11

and consumerism it’s like we’re forced to use this and so we need more people

50:16

um out there educating and learning and that’s part of what we do at our medicine camp is we’re starting to learn

50:22

like how can we meet our needs from the land because that’s how traditionally how we live so just for you guys to keep

50:28

in mind that the north saskatchewan river is at risk and to start having those conversations of like what are we

50:34

gonna do about it you know thank you and this is a conversation i live in phoenix the aquifer is drying up

50:42

and it’s getting hotter and people say we have 50 years left to live in phoenix and it will no longer be inhabitable and

50:49

that’s related to water so one more question hopefully it’s a positive one here we go

50:57

we’ll leave it on a good note marcy thank you for your words i appreciate

51:02

them so much to everybody who shared and i have a question i i’ve heard you talking about the importance in wakuto

51:09

winner okotawin depending on whether you’re speaking korea or richard and the importance of that kinship and

51:16

relationships it’s not just it’s not an element it’s a relationship that we have

51:22

with the spirits of that water and i’m really curious for all those here

51:27

leaving now leaving this experience and hearing your words what would you suggest for people to go

51:34

away and begin to build a relationship with water what’s something that you would suggest that they go and do

51:41

to start building that relationship that’s a great question

51:47

so i’ll go to both of you all right yeah i guess

51:52

something constructive um i’d say

51:58

hang out with these little ones that are doing things like this because they’re they’re the motivators

52:03

for what we’re what we do you know they’re the ones that help me pop out pop out of bed

52:08

every morning um you know as soon as and thank you for pointing out that picture out because

52:14

you just should have saw her she was melting with pride you know i was looking at her and she

52:20

was like yeah that’s me you know um but also just giving thanks you know

52:26

giving thanks to where we are um people in peace who is a winter thunderbird

52:32

and that’s that one that um let’s let’s these like the beautiful flakes that you see in a lot of these

52:38

pictures here people she was a winter thunderbird and

52:43

we need to hang out with the farmers as well and and say prayers for them because there was like uh they know how

52:50

to read the soil just like jess had said here earlier you know i was i was hanging out with

52:56

somebody a farmer from down south it was about 77 the guy looked like 50 years old you know

53:02

and uh he was so fit his mind was so sharp you know and that’s how you want to age you know you want to age like

53:09

that so um when i was talking to him he said you know the soil this year

53:14

there was only this was this much frost because last year was so dry that everything just like jess had said

53:22

it’s sucking it up right it’s nourishing so if you can on a positive note

53:28

uh and if you’re not religious or spiritual just go have a you know go say a prayer to that river go say thanks to

53:36

that that drink of water that you’re gonna have you know maybe later on you know um but it’s just that

53:43

acknowledging the spirit of water and then supporting uh education spots like this and and

53:49

then actually thanking you know uh the curators and everybody else that made

53:54

this thing happen as well we need more dialogue we need more like safe places

54:00

to speak so safe that they’re asking about uh how do i do how do i do right they want that

54:07

response you know and i can’t wait to see them

54:12

you know 10 years down the line 20 years down the line when they’re speaking and how powerful these little ones are going

54:17

to be sounding when they’re our age right and how much knowledge we’re going to leave behind so hopefully

54:24

yeah join join all of us in in giving thanks to that water

54:29

and giving thanks to a safe place especially a safe place for us to talk about such an important

54:36

relative of ours water

54:41

that’s good yeah i would only add to that you know grandma used to have a rainwater barrel

54:47

that used to collect at her home out there and i remember that awareness of you know she would use

54:52

it to feed the animals to feed the cats and the dogs to bring it inside to boil it there was always this awareness of

54:59

water so as a last word i would say create that awareness create moments for

55:04

these kids to see that awareness of what water brings to all of us and i think that’s really what we can do and i’ll

55:11

just say um that prayer is like it’s so powerful

55:17

important um that despite everything that’s happening to water and everything that’s going on

55:23

in the world like it’s amazing if you pray for your water what it’s going to do because you guys have heard of dr

55:29

emoto i’m sure if you haven’t check them out but um

55:34

what you say to yourself so he did this experiment of like putting water in a glass and he would say mean words and

55:42

hurtful words to that water and the water crystals looked uh so

55:47

deformed and then he put a glass of water and he played different beautiful musics and spoke beautiful words to it

55:54

and these crystals were just beautiful so just think of that be kind to yourself you know we need to be kind to ourselves

56:01

first of all and i’m a big advocate of prayer you know however you’re gonna pray to pray

56:08

for yourself for for the water and and those things go a long way

56:13

yeah thank you aye hi and with that i want to thank you all for joining us

56:18

today spread the word tell people to come bring so that they can also take pictures of

56:24

water in their neighborhood talk to your elders and we’ll see you here in the next time we come and talk about water

56:31

in this gallery and hopefully it’s every year so thank you to our guests

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