To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers

with water ceremonies and songs.
at movement and traditional way was
revitalized and brought back in a strong way by Josephine. In 2003,
really
began her rst walk, walking the perimeter of Lake Superior, carrying a
she
copper bucket and praying for the water.
at was the beginning of many
walks, and more walks inspired by other
ree Fires Lodge members like
Sharon Day, another Water Walker.
e movement has grown and continues
prayers for the water. It is estimated that Josephine walked more than
the
kilometers during her lifetime for the water. Josephine completed her
25,000
sacred walk in 2017, passing over the next year. 5
nal
Mandamin
Josephine
I raise my hands to you.
~~~
was a long time back that I came to meet Milton Born With A Tooth. He
It
a Water Protector. A Peigan leader of the Lone Fighters Society, Milton’s
was
was with the Oldman Dam on the ree River, a dam project not
battle
the Kinzua Dam. “I was born by that river,” Milton would tell me.
unlike
in a small house to a large family that made their life in that world of
Born
Old Man River.
the
the Alberta government proposed a new dam on the river, this one
When
both electricity and to provide ood control for agricultural interests in
for
region, Born With A Tooth restored the Pikani Lone Fighters Society, an
the
medicine society, to protect the river. In the 1990s, when I came to
ancient
him, Milton spoke of a dream about a beaver, noting, as others have,
know
“beavers are the only ones allowed to make dams in our territory.”
that
by the beaver, Born With A Tooth, who argued that the Pikani
Inspired
the rights to the water in the river and that the dam would result in
owned
ooding of sacred places, resorted to a beaver-like action. at’s to say,
the
With A Tooth borrowed an excavator on the construction site and
Born
the river into a canal bed. is action ended in a shootout with
redirected
the
and jail time for Born With A Tooth. Legal challenges continued
the dam was built, but the commitment of a man to a river remained.
and
2003, a 32 megawatt hydroelectric plant has operated, providing 114
Since
gigawatt hours per year.
at hydro plant is 25% owned by the Pikani
Milton Born With A Tooth passed away in 2019.
Nation.
will never be peaceful. It’s like a nice beautiful day that changes
“Change
into a thunderstorm, or a snowstorm — that’s how change is going to be.”