Lake healer named sustainability champion

SCREENSHOT: YOUTUBE

Katherine Morrisseau-Sinclair has received the province’s Champion for Sustainability award for her efforts in healing Lake Winnipeg. She led a 28-day traditional water walk last summer.

 

By Austin Grabish, The Express Weekly

She set out on an ambitious 28-day journey last summer to heal Lake Winnipeg and led over 100 women, including many grandmothers, on a 1,032 kilometre trek, and now Katherine Morrisseau-Sinclair has been awarded for her efforts in saving the threatened lake.

Morrisseau-Sinclair received the province’s Champion for Sustainability award last Wednesday.

“I felt really humbled to have the water walk acknowledged in that way,” said Morrisseau-Sinclair, when reached by phone Sunday.

“It was a nice surprise.”

Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh congratulated Morrisseau-Sinclair on winning the award.

"I'd like to congratulate these award winners for the commitment they've shown to the challenge we have issued to all Manitobans. We all need to do our part and every little bit adds up to making a big difference,” said Mackintosh in a news release.

Sinclair led a traditional Anishinaabe water walk from Norway House to Manigotagan and made stops in several Interlake communities last summer as part of an effort to raise awareness about the state of Lake Winnipeg.

She was inspired by a 2013 news story, which said Lake Winnipeg was the world’s most threatened lake of the year.

Morrisseau-Sinclair said she believes the water walk will have a lasting impact on Lake Winnipeg.

She said she was touched by many of the communities she walked through last summer.

“I was inspired and motivated everyday by people and their reaction to it,” Morrisseau-Sinclair said.

“I know that our efforts have brought healing to the lake because of our beliefs,” she said when explaining how aboriginal women heal water.

“Everybody has a role in life and for us, as women, one of our responsibilities is to take care of the waters, and that is a very direct connection to the fact that we bring forth life and water is life. Water sustains life,” Morrisseau-Sinclair said.

Morrisseau-Sinclair doesn’t think the general public treats water with caution. She said fears that arose out of last week’s boil water advisory in the City of Winnipeg proves that point.

“It was amazing to watch people and their reaction to that,” Morrisseau-Sinclair said.

“Two days of boil water advisory is nothing compared to what could happen.”

Morrisseau-Sinclair said it’s not just Lake Winnipeg that’s in trouble.

“This is just the beginning, there’s a lot of work that we have to do not only for Lake Winnipeg but all the lakes.

“I mean Lake Manitoba is in the same state now and people have to start paying attention and they have to realize they must do something in order to support and maintain life through those lakes, otherwise they’re going to be in serious trouble,” Morrisseau-Sinclair said.

“Without water we’re not going to have life.”

Several other environmental stewards received other awards from the province.

-- First published in the Express Weekly News print edition February 5, 2015 p.4