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HEYOKA
FOOTPRINTS UPON THE RED AND WHITE ROADS
Wes Stevens and Paul
Watts
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Wes is the pipe carrier for the
Heyoka sweat lodge in Churchill, Manitoba Canada. He is of Algonkian Cree
heritage with family connections to the Peguis First Nation of Southern
Manitoba. I am an ethnoecologist working on sustainable livelihoods within a
sustainable environment, with projects involving indigenous people of Canada and
the Philippines. My parents are of English descent with a sister by choice and
grand children of York Factory Cree heritage. Our story is about travel along
both the red and white roads, from the perspective of those that perhaps look at
the world a bit differently. In some indigenous cultures they are called ‘contraires’.
Heyoka are the contraires of the Lakota culture. They get their energy from the
thunder beings and generally come out on the 3rd day of the Sundance.
Our sweat lodge in Churchill is Heyoka; the door faces to the west, or the
opposite direction of other lodges. My personal journey has largely involved
looking at challenges as opportunities and often approaching change from
somewhat of the opposite direction. Although I am not of indigenous
heritage, I have found expression in the Heyoka lodge and we would like to share
our small story of positive change.
The
lodge is located far beyond the usual range of the
Lakota, in a site once occupied by the Sayisi Dene,
the Churchill Band of the Dene (people of the
caribou - Athapaskan linguistic group of
Northern Canada,
according to my research). Historically, they
suffered from a terrible forced relocation in the
1950s that had left them significantly disempowered.
This relocation, often called a genocide, has been
documented by the people themselves in both a book
and a video. The book is called Night Spirits
written by ILa Bussidor and
Ustun Bilgen-Reinart. The award winning
video is called - Our Story, by Allen
and Mary Code. The forced relocation
stretched over two decades until Chief Peter
Yassie led the move of his people to the
present community site of Tadoule Lake. Joe
Thorassie, was one member of the Sayisi Dene
that sought cultural renewal, in part by attending
the Lakota Sundance in South Dakota. I am not sure
exactly when Joe met Bobby Woods,
whether it was before or after the move of the
Sayisi Dene out of Churchill, which occurred in the
mid 70s. Bobby Woods received his Heyoka training
from a descendant of those involved in the dramatic
changes and events of the late 19th
Century. When Chief Crazy Horse was
killed by a bayonet from one of his own, his people
split up. Some of those that moved camp became known
as having the name of "Moves-camp". A
descendant from one of that group was Sam
Moves-camp who trained Bobby Woods, an
indigenous man from British
Columbia. They apparently met at a
Sundance. Bobby's
Lakota name is Lame Buffalo or Tatonka husti.
Joe and Bobby started travelling to communities,
doing sweats and workshops and going to the Sundance
together in South Dakota. Then in about 1988 Joe met
Wes Stevens and he was put in contact with Bobby.
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They
decided to put up a lodge and they located it in a
place called Camp Nanook, close to a Boy Scout camp
outside of Churchill; but the polar bears kept
destroying the structure. Wes looked for an
alternative location and found a site he liked in
Dene Village, which was the last place that Sayisi
Dene lived before moving to Tadoule Lake. He got
permission to put the lodge up from the Tribal
Council of Tadoule Lake, as they still see the area
as a significant part of the band’s heritage. He
also got additional permission to put a shelter over
the lodge - this has been the only permanent
development allowed in the old village site. In 1975
I had been walking through a remote part of the
Rocky Mountains and
at the foot of a mountain by a lake I found a spot
where there had been a big landside - long ago. As I
stood on the shore looking at the boulders, I
suddenly started to think that one of the rocks
looked a bit strange - and it turned out to be a
buffalo skull. I carried it out on my back - maybe
30 miles and had it tentatively aged at 150 years. I
took it to Churchill - and it sat around for maybe
20 years until Wes mentioned he needed a buffalo
skull for the lodge - so it is there now. The
village site itself has been the location for
several healing ceremonies. In one I had the honour
of being asked to drive the elders that could not
comfortably walk through the old village site. The
village has a plaque which talks about this genocide
from the 1950s to the 1970s and commemorates some of
those whose lives were cut short as part of the
consequence. The Heyoka lodge has been used by many
Dene survivors of the forced move as well as those
from other indigenous groups and non-indigenous
people such as myself. For me it represents a link
to the red road, but as well an expression of the
importance in seeking alternative, or contrary
approaches to solving problems and meeting
challenges.
I have
found that my life has involved a selection of roads
that have seemed by many to be opposite to what is
expected. To the surprise of both family and
friends, I left my home town in 1971 and set out to
attend university in Guelph, Canada. That challenge
opened my life up to other alternatives. I
subsequently came up to Churchill as a volunteer
researcher on polar bears in 1975 and went on to do
my doctorate at the
University of Oslo in
Norway. Wes and I
played basketball together and got to know each
other. I initiated an Ethnoecology Program at the
University of Manitoba
and continue to try to get it established as a full
undergraduate program. I have been working with an
Ojibway elder Larry Moar, in the Lake
Winnipeg Basin on a project to identify and share
the importance of water and land from an indigenous
peoples' perspective with parallel work in a few
indigenous communities (Dumagat and ILongot) of the
Philippines. In the Philippines, I have been with
Volunteer Services Overseas for the past few years
and continue to work on sustainable fisheries, in
part through cultural integrity centered approaches
to economic development. Many
indigenous people of the
Philippines are keen to know about the
indigenous people of North
America. I also work in the Philippines as a
volunteer and consultant on ethnnoecology and
sustainable development through a Chair in
Ethnoecology at Aurora State College. Some Heyoka
footprints have even been layed down along the
coast of this land, so far from the home of the
Lakota, and even further from the Arctic coast of
Churchill. The importance of looking for positive
alternatives and considering challenges as
opportunities continues to be an inspiration.
Wes can be reached at:
tanisi@mts.net
and my email is:
paulwatts52@yahoo.com
Along with my Filipino wife Marivic Pajaro, we have
started a development site and program called
DALUHAY
at:
www.ecosystemics.info
It is always good to hear from those of similar
beliefs and interests.
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