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"Walk to Remember" completes Lake Superior circle
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Elder Esther Nahgahnub of the Fond du Lac, Minn., reservation did not let a broken leg stop her from continuing the walk around Lake
Superior. Walkers like Dean Mattinas, left, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., helped her during the journey.
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BARAGA -- A broken leg did not prevent Esther Nahgahnub from continuing "A Walk to Remember" - a 1,200-mile spiritual journey around Lake Superior to bring forth community vision
to protect the air, land and water for future generations. Nahgahnub will be among the walkers expected to complete the journey Friday, August 25, when they arrive at the Bad River Chippewa
reservation in Odanah, Wis, in time for a Powwow Saturday and Sunday, August 26-27.
Nahgahnub, an elder of the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota and a co-organizer of the walk, was one of a group of Native and non-Native walkers who began their trek in Odanah, Wis., on
June 29. The Walk took them to Superior, Wis.; Duluth, Minn.; up the Minnesota North Shore to Lutsen, Grand Marais and Grand Portage; on into Ontario, Canada; across the bridge at Sault
Ste. Marie; and finally back through Michigan, stopping in Marquette, Ewen and Baraga. On August 19 the group celebrated a spiritual ceremony and feast with members of the Keweenaw
Bay Indian Community at the Campground in Baraga before setting out on the last leg of the Walk this week.
After some medical treatment in Ontario, Nahgahnub walked across the three-mile bridge at the Sault on August 9.
"I had to do that," she said. "It was on Aboriginal Day. That was a triumph. We stopped traffic."
Nahgahnub said when she learned the cast on her leg was doing her more harm than good, other walkers pushed her in a wheel chair. She found this community spirit symbolic.
"Actually I think this symbolizes how dedicated we all are. I couldnít have done it without them," Nahgahnub said. "Weíre a family now. Weíve lived together. We have few secrets from one
another."
The Organization Metis Aboriginal Association, or OMAA, contributed the wheelchair, she added; and her Fond du Lac tribal council also donated a van for the trip, thanks to the influence of Jean
Mulder, the tribeís executive director.
Another elder, Butch Stone, who works for the Bad River band, said he participated in all but two days of the two-month walk. He left the group temporarily to request a leave of absence from his employer.
"The chairman of the band said he thought the walk around the lake was important, and he was very supportive in giving me a leave of absence from my job (to finish the walk)," Stone said.
He added the band supported the walkers with a cash donation of $1,000, and, in addition, set up some events for the end of the journey.
Stone said the Walk isnít the first issue concerning the environment that heís been a part of. In the past he participated in a train blockade to stop sulfuric acid shipments from passing through the
reservation to the White Pine Mine. He also helped blockade a logging road to call attention to clearcutting that caused erosion in a crucial spawning area along the Bad River watershed.
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Participants in the Walk around Lake Superior share a feast on August 19 at the Ojibway Campground in Baraga. From left, seated are Sandra
Mattinas and Tammy Mattinas of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.; standing, l. to r., Elizabeth Post of Ashland, Wis.; Dean Mattinas of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.;
Donna Lynk of Bad River band, Odanah, Wis.; right side of table, standing, are Sylvia Cloud, Bad River band; Jackie and Henry Lemieux of
Duluth; seated from left are Butch Stone, Bad River; April Stone Dahl holding 18-month-old Silas Stone Dahl; Isabella Stone Dahl, 3; and Jarrod Stone Dahl of Bad River.
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Like Stone, elder Sylvia Cloud, also of the Bad River reservation, is known as "Ogitchida," or
"Protector of the People." Cloud said pollution and destruction of the environment have seriously affected the health of Native peoples.
"In the past, when the fish would spawn, the fish would be jumping next to each other, all along the
river. You donít see that anymore," she said. "There used to be flocks of ducks and geese . . . black in the sky."
Cloud noted environmental changes mean certain traditional foods are disappearing from Native peoplesí diet.
"Thereís a reason (for) the berries, the medicines . . . because we need them in our bodies to stay
healthy," she said. "Thereís an epidemic of diabetes, heart trouble. Itís because weíre not able to eat the foods we used to eat."
While diabetes was unknown in her family when she was a girl, Cloud noted she is now diabetic and takes natural medicines for the pancreas.
"But we have to be careful not to find (the medicines) in a place thatís contaminated," she said.
"Whatís in the water also helps our circulatory system . . . We always come back to the water."
Non-Native walkers also spoke about the need to make people on both sides of the lake aware of the importance of keeping the lake and its watershed clean.
Toivola resident Sandra Harting, who does research on mercury in stamp sand and who participated in the walk from its beginning in Wisconsin to the Canadian border at Grand Portage,
said she brought back a message for everyone.
"Without clean water you have nothing," Harting said. "You can live without money but not without clean air, uncontaminated food and clean water."
Frank Koehn of Herbster, Wis., said the idea for the Walk came out of a discussion on Great Lakes issues with the late Anishinabe leader Walter Bresette (1947-1999), founder of the
movement Anishinabe Niijii (Chippewa Friend), at a 1999 meeting of Native and non-Native people in Sault Ste. Marie.
"Weíre promoting zero discharge (into the lake) . . . and the
Seventh Generation Amendment - a common property amendment (that) looks at the laws and Constitution of the United States,"
Koehn said. "The Constitution protects private property, but there are some things that by their very nature canít be owned - water, air, wind, soil - these renewable resources."
Koehn said the goal of zero discharge of toxic pollutants into the lake is based on the fact that our biosphere contains a finite amount of water, which is cycled through generations.
"The ancients used it, we use it, the people will use it 100 years from now," Koehn noted.
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Dads Jarrod Stone Dahl of Bad River, left, and Frank Koehn of Herbster, Wis., entertain the younger generation in the Ojibway Campground in
Baraga: from left, Sean Spruce, 3, son of Pauline Spruce of KBIC; Skye Dachs-Giddings, 7, daughter of Koren Giddings of Marquette; and Koehnís son Gus McClelland, 10.
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Bob Olsgard, Lake Superior Alliance coordinator, said the Walk was about a spiritual connection between people who care about Lake Superior.
"The Walk is about walking the talk from the heart," Olsgard said. "Too much of what we do in
trying to save the planet misses the very deep connection we all feel on a spiritual level. That connection to water is basic, fundamental and for that matter scientifically verifiable . . .And itís
really exciting to see this happen. Many, many people
really do care deeply about protecting Lake Superior for our great grandchildrens' great
grandchildren. And this is just the beginning. Now that we know who we are we can get started on the job."
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Bad River elder Amoose, third from right, is pictured at the Ojibway Campground in Baraga with other Walk participants: from left, Ashley
Leoso and her Dad, Francis Leoso of Bad River; Pangi Lemieux of Bad River; Diana, Sandra and Tammy Mattinas of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
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The walkers invite everyone to celebrate with them at 2 p.m. Friday on Birch Hill, which is 17 miles east of Ashland, Wis., on Highway 2. The group will walk together the final seven miles west
to the Bad River Powwow to be held this weekend at Odanah.
Editorís note: For more information on the background of the Walk, click here ; for photos and
comments by participants on the walk see the July 23 article by guest columnist Vern Simula in
the Archives. See also the latest online issue of Masinaigan, published in Odanah, Wis., by the
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), representing 11 Chippewa tribes in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. See Keweenaw Todayís Aug. 21 article: KBIC: Mt. Bohemia Sacred Site in the news archives.
- Michele Anderson
August 25, 2000
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