Elora and Fergus will play host to the first All Nations Grand River Water Walk on Sept. 16 and 17.
The event, the first of its kind for the area, will follow an Anishinaabe tradition of honouring water through ancient ceremonial practices. It will chart the course of the Grand River from Sept. 15 to 29.
While organizers have invited members from Save Our Water and the Wellington Water Watchers to participate, the event is meant to be a peaceful ceremony, not a political statement.
“We reached out to Water Watchers and others because we knew that they care about the health of the water,” said one of the organizers, Laura Hamilton. “[The walk is] all about alliance and we knew they would be interested in joining.”
The walk, she added, will begin with a prayer ceremony. A copper pail will be filled from the Grand at the beginning of the walk. According to Hamilton, it will contain a transponder that will track the progression of the walk in real time on the walk’s website and Facebook page.
Walkers will carry the pail during the trek, starting as early as 4am and ending at 3pm, until they reach the end of the route on Sept. 29.
Along the way, Hamilton and other organizers have planned dinners in local communities. Melville United Church will host the walkers in Fergus on Sept. 16.
“It’s a mission that fits pretty well with the United Church of Canada,” says Allan Hons, chair of Melville United Church.
“Anyone who… make[s] it their goal to encourage greater awareness of national resources and how important they are spiritually is a great effort.”
The idea for the walk came from Mary Anne Caibaiosai, a resident of the Kitchener region and originally from the Anishinaabe community (the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island).
On the official website for the All Nations Grand River Water Walk, Caibaiosai writes that she felt compelled to follow in the footsteps of Anishnaabe Elder, and original water walker Josephine Mandamin, who has walked around all the Great Lakes since 2003.
Caibaiosai said the walks are an important Anishnaabe cultural practice.
“We believe when we sing for her, offer her good words and prayers, that she will become clean. It is important that men and women of all ages and colour will come to walk for her,” she writes.
The route will bring walkers to the Fergus area on Sept. 16.
The Melville United Church dinner will give volunteers the opportunity to get impressions of the day from participants.
Organizers expect at least 15 walkers to take part that day, but organizers won’t have final numbers confirmed beforehand.
The dinner will be a potluck, according to Hons.
“The walkers have requested whole foods and no fish,” he said.
