First Nations University Elders Florence Allen of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and Rose Bird of Thunderchild First Nation performed a sacred water ceremony with the young group of Stanley Mission walkers. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
Water protectors from Stanley Mission who have traveled more than 300 kilometres by foot made a stop in Prince Albert on Wednesday on their way to Standing Rock.
The group of five people plans to continue on despite a recent development that says the Dakota Access Pipeline will be rerouted so that it doesn’t go under a water table that is at the centre of the Standing Rock gathering.
Before they crossed the North Saskatchewan River, two First Nations University Elders joined them to perform a water ceremony and to smudge the walkers.
Elders Florence Allen of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and Rose Bird of Thunderchild First Nation said women are water protectors.
“The water is very sick right now and she needs help because if we don’t, we won’t have any life that water will be poisoned and we will not be able to live if that water’s gone. You can’t eat money, you can’t drink money but we need our water,” Allen said.
“We pray for that water: to give that life back to that water.”
Bird said it is the Cree way to treat the water ceremony as sacred, meaning they don’t talk in detail about what the ceremony entails and won’t allow photos to be taken during the ceremony.
Ricky Sanderson said the summer’s Husky pipeline break that spewed oil into the North Saskatchewan River woke him up to the issue of pipelines.
Ricky Sanderson (right) and his father lead the way near Prince Albert with a police escort. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
“It kind of scared us all that is was hard for them to clean up,” he said.
He still plans to continue the walk, which he organized, even though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will not allow the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Oil Pipeline to be built under a Missouri River reservoir.
Sanderson said when he walks, his thoughts always come back to the youths that his community is worried about. So far, the group has stopped in at Sturgeon Lake’s school and met with youths from Pelican Narrows.
Charleen Charles is also participating in the walk, and says seeing the pain of youths in Stanley Mission as well as those in Standing Rock was inspiration to her.
“That really hurt me to see those people those peaceful protestors that are getting hurt over there,” she said.
Temperatures have dipped in the past few days but the walkers say they’re northerners so they’re fine braving the cold. They haven’t had any issues aside from one teen having to take a break after getting sick with the flu.
The group has started a GoFundMe to help in their travels and their journey can be followed on Facebook.