REGINA – The ninth annual smudge walk in North Central brought community members and leaders together to speak about Indigenous issues.
The smudge is a bundle of dry herbs, that are burned for the ceremony. Many different herbs represents different things and are used for various reasons.
Cadmus Delmore Chief of the Cowessess First Nations says this smudge walk was used to send a message.
“The smoke rises up to the creator and you cleanse it. Anything you say with that smudge sends gets that message up to the creator.”
After being off for a number of years, the smudge walk was restarted nine years ago.
Myke Agecoutay the Chief of the Muscowpetung First Nations, organized the event and said they brought it back to get rid of the stigma.
“In 2008, Maclean’s magazine dubbed North Central as Canada’s worst neighbourhood.”
Agecoutay said residents of North Central felt the statistics didn’t tell the whole story. People who have lived in the area know the struggles but also understand the deep rooted good that comes from raising their families there.
“Sure incidents happen, but this is still a community,” Agecoutay said.
The event’s return was chance for the people living there to start fresh, but has since become so much more. It now represents hope, honor, love, respect and unity.
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Superintendent Cory Zaharuk from the Regina Police Services says it’s an opportunity to leave the past behind.
” For us it’s about renewal. It’s about setting new priorities, being optimistic about the future, working together to make this an even better community.”
However, Myke Agecoutay says that the event has a different meaning and purpose for each attendee.
” Domestic violence, missing and murdered indigenous. We found that people come to walk for their own reasoning,” Agecoutay added.
The walk works to speak of a larger issues such as inequality and segregation within the Regina city limits.
Although the walk helps to raise awareness, Cadmus Delmore says it’s not enough to solve the problems within the community.
“After the smudge walk what do we do as a society? We tend to just focus on other things.”
The walk challenges leaders to be proactive about crime and to make the neighbourhood safer for everyone with and around it.
” We’ve got to get a plan going. Mentorship, safe walks to school, we need to get our teenagers busy,” Delorme said.
The event creates an opportunity for open discussion on these issues, to find a plan that works well for everyone and is obtainable for North Central.
Although the Smudge Walk plays various roles in kick-starting a better home for all of its residents, it showcases how important it is to bring people together.
“It’s unity, it’s not just Indigenous people here,” Delorme adds.
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