Nishnaabeg Gathering on the Land for Healing, Wellness and Belonging

Abstract

Across the vastness of our ancestral territory and beyond, Biigtigong Nishnaabeg have gathered to demonstrate our accountabilities to the wider set of relationships that make us whole and well. Over many years, our abilities to gather on our lands, and to fulfill our responsibilities as Nishnaabeg people have changed considerably because of historic and ongoing processes of cultural and environmental dispossession. Despite the considerable harm and trauma endured by our community because of these disruptions, Biigtigong Nishnaabeg have engaged on an incredible pathway of hope and healing, through which we aim to restore our original cultural practices and the gifts of knowledge, belonging and wellness that are anchored therein. This presentation will discuss how Biigtigong Nishnaabeg is re-establishing its gathering practices to reconnect with the lands, people and knowledges that grow from our traditional territory. We draw from the concept of environmental repossession to describe the social, cultural, and political practices Biigtigong Nishnaabeg is engaging in to support wellness, healing, and community belonging. These efforts are narrated through the lens of connection; gathering around the moose hunt, returning to the Mouth of the Pic, and reconnecting our social relations with one another. Engaging in our gathering practices is fundamentally about living and being in mino bimaadisiwin, and demonstrating our capabilities to create spaces that offer healing and belonging, and support our own self-determined futures as Nishnaabeg.