Can we (re)turn the tide?

Touch Down photo of the Biidaasige & Water Walkers with the community of Red Cliff 

There's a rumour going around that certain ones are holding down the fort while we're all off living our lives. That the environmental people whatever their pursuasion, are steadfast occupying the field, the phones and the courthouses. We also hear that it's often just the environmentalists, old-school hippies, and First Nations that are preventing major damage to the Earth and Water. In the First Nations world there is very little if any capacity to hold down the fort so we're scratching heads on this one.  Meanwhile, at least in Ontario and we suspect the rest of the known planet, there's a free-for-all in resource extraction. That's at least what our dear friend Bomgiizhik says and he's almost always straight down the eagle feather. We cannot deny that our entire way of life is sourced from these practices either, which makes open dialogue on these issues a real challenge.

an old coal plant decommissioned on the st. Clair river. 

Regardless, there's a sad truth we all must face -- all the comings and goings of making it easier to do business -- it impacts the Water, and not in good feelings kind of way. Even in the most 'sustainable' practices, there is not enough care taken to ease the taking that occurs across industries. Many if not all the everyday people we've spoken to about our Petition or the impacts to the Great Lakes, they see the inescapable cost to future generations - their grandchildren. It may not even take that long for the piper to finally have his due. It may not take that long to materialize the hidden costs of what we buy and what we eat. As we lay out our 'Fact Bundle', they begin to see if they have not already silently sensed it themselves. Further to this we ask them to consider fracking - laid out simply as highly pressurized chemical liquid pushed into rock and offsets existing gas or oil to the surface for capture - which easily contaminates source ground water relied on for drinking. It can get into aquifers fairly easy too. It also damages soil in areas dependent on its agricultural heritage. So in whole areas of the continental United States, the ground Water are ruined coupled by climate change and other environmental factors makes existing fresh water more and more difficult to rely on. Everyone is beginning to look at the Great Lakes.  A community in Wisconsin has successfully begun to siphon Water from Lake Superior for its supply, how many more before it becomes a forefront issue? How many more times will the polluters and large scale takers have to carry on before we might see meaningful action? People say the Water Wars have begun but really have they?  

For the Anishinaabe in the formal sense anyway, we've been reduced to giving input in on some strategy that will save us all, and further a few shillings to do our part on the ground, if that. We have options to start up expensive legal battles standing alone in court or flat out protest. We also choose most frequently to play the educator card and hope for the best.

All the while the major lobby's slither here and there whispering words of wisdom to senior bureaucrats deciding the future of Mother Earth and all her babies. I suspect other populations were dealt a similar hand. The question arises, amongst ourselves do we have an all in situation to turn the tide?

Lake Superior on an auspicious, awe-inspiring day. 

We've witnessed a growing number of those with faith, oursleves included, who pray and sing and make offerings to the Water. We are asking the big questions and making new tracks for those coming behind us. We have the vision of clean clear water in our minds eyes. Without faith it would not be enough to get by with so we rely on each other for encouragement and solidarity.

We move in ceremony and connectivity to what's left green and blue. We pass by the Chemical Valley's and Bruce's Power's to make a special kind of inquiry, to petition on behalf of all the children's grandchildren, and make alliances with the natural world. There are many who have began this similar path and are beginning to make their way.

All in all, we reach out our allies, friends and family members. We ask, what is it we can all do for the Water? What if anything can we do to level the playing field and create a new shared future?

If there's anything we can really do, it would be to help activate others. We may need to say it how it is as hard as that might be, before it gets worse. We may even have to give up our lives if it comes to that. As much as we'd like to celebrate, there's much more work to be done and we have you in mind.

Picking Up The Bundles Canoe Journey emblem generously created by the one and only Christi Belcourt