The first ever Credit River Waterwalk has now begun.
The Indigenous journey to honour and pray to the waters of the river and its surrounding regions got underway at 3 a.m. this morning (June 16).
The walk is a three-day undertaking where nibi (water) from Orangeville’s Island Lake will be gathered in a copper pail. A relay of participants will then carry the water on foot to be poured into the mouth of the Credit River in Port Credit, almost 60 km away in a straight line.
But first, organizers and participants gathered yesterday at Georgetown's John Elliott Theatre to prepare for the venture through teachings and songs about water.
The community welcome event, as it was called, brought together Anishinaabe people and their settler allies. This gathering, follow-up ceremonies on the same day and the three-day walk itself are all one large, spiritual ceremony.
“It's not about protesting and [waving] flags. It's quiet. It's ceremonial,” Dale Cimolai, one of the organizers, told HaltonHillsToday. “Its purpose is to offer ourselves to the water, to the healing of the water, and to just get in touch with and love the water that is within us.”
At the John Elliott Theatre, several Anishinaabe kwe (women) like Nodin Ikwe, Edebwed Ogichidaa Kwe, Val King and Bree Leggett educated the gathered crowd. They gave words of wisdom and helped them to better understand the role water plays in human lives and the world.
“We see nibi, which is water, as life,” Nodin Ikwe told the audience. “And she supports all of life, all of the beings in the earth, on the earth, above the earth and the sky realm.”
The event was capped off with exuberant singing and drumming.
More information can be found at creditriverwaterwalk.com.
