We Are All Water Protectors Workshop I

We began at the curb in the St. Matt’s parking lot, where asphalt over degraded soil meets undulating paver bricks up to a side door and over into the Bracondale House courtyard. The first snow of the year had melted. We looked at the puddles, how water had pooled, seeking a way underground. We looked at the catch basin, barely visible under the back of an SUV. We looked up at the doors on which We Are All Water Protectors will be installed next May.

tiny cultural centre founders and facilitators h kyworuchko and Aysia Tse talked about standing here with Dr. Mariko Uda, a civil engineer, environmental activist, writer and illustrator of Where does it all come from? Where does it all go? Toronto’s water, energy, and waste systems (2020). With her, they considered the small waterways to Lake Ontario forced into sewers in this part of town, down to Ashbridges Bay for treatment, then back up as clean water for our homes. h and Aysia invited us to remember that we are connected to those waterways and to the Lake, describing how local creeks would be mapped onto the doors in steel.

Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan Co-Lead, Vanessa Barnes, our guide along hidden waterways in and through our neighbourhood, then led us to the main garden to take in Bert Whitecrow’s moon-and-halfmoon-shaped rain gardens. Just as Vanessa was pointing out the accompanying posters and maps, Elder Catherine arrived. We sang ourselves inside with Elder Mary Lou Smoke’s “Water Song, gifted to the IPSG with the proviso that we talk to anyone who will listen about how our lives depend on Water.

And talk we did. In the end, 3 more tables had to be set up to accommodate 17 participants, 2 facilitators, and special guests Elder Catherine and Dr. Uda. We feasted on potluck dishes savoury and sweet and shared first memories of experiencing Water. These we transferred to small copper tiles in any way we chose, all of us benefitting from h and Aysia’s research into using sharpies. These have plastic in their ink, which creates a raised image when the copper is bathed in acid. Some of us combined ink, scratching, and piercing, wondering how the tile might turn out after the final process.

Slowly themes emerged: of the wonder of the places where Land and Water meet, of floating in salt water and fresh, of rain and water springing from the ground deep in the forest, of the streams and rivers behind childhood homes. Though we came from the Four Directions, from many ethnicities, places of origin, gender and sexual identities, teen to senior, remembering Water brought us together.

Elder Catherine closed the afternoon, reflecting on all gatherings that unfold in a good way as Ceremony. Women as the Life-givers (and we were mainly women) are responsible for Water, she said quietly: all living beings depend on Water and are related through Water. For this, we are grateful, always.

The We Are All Water Protectors Workshop 2: the communal will be held on February 19, noon to 2 p.m. at the Oakwood Vaughan Oasis Centre for Healthy Aging (in the former Vaughan Road Academy, at Winona).