Native healing at Springwater Provincial Park

By Janis Ramsay Barrie Advance July 9 2013
Brown shades of soot are starting to tarnish a white tarp hanging on a 60-foot traditional teaching lodge at Springwater Provincial Park.
The lodge — one of three constructed in the last decade in the Simcoe County area — was the gathering place for 74 aboriginal people* taking part in a healing circle Sunday night.

“We talked to the Ministry of Natural Resources about opening the gates for our events,” said Elizabeth Brass Elson, one of several aboriginal people who have occupied the land since April.
“They obliged us to have a healing circle and opened the gates for a one-time occasion … so we could get the elders and the disabled in.”
Since the gates closed and the Springwater Provincial Park became non-operational March 31, Brass Elson has taken up camp inside the 193-hectare park.
“We are protecting our lands and asserting our treaty rights to practise our culture and tradition on Crown land,” she said.
When asked why she didn’t set up a teaching lodge before, Brass Elson said now is the right time for it.
“We had a calling. When it’s time, it’s time. It’s time now to share our ancestral knowledge,” she said.
Brass Elson said the land is a “spiritual place” with natural spring water and is a perfect spot to share aboriginal knowledge and traditions.
“What better place than where the water flows from mother earth, freely and uncompromised?” she said.
The name of the occupation camp is Nibi, which means uncompromised water, said Brass Elson, a member of the Beausoleil First Nations who also participated in the Site 41 protests.
She said the first local teaching lodge was built at Site 41, and another at Awenda Park in Penetanguishene still stands by the Council Rock.
Springwater’s lodge was constructed on top of the old shuffleboard court.
Nearby is a traditional Midewin sweat lodge, constructed June 30, along with half a dozen nylon camping tents.
Brass Elson said only First Nations, Metis or people with aboriginal ancestry are able to camp on the lands.
“There’s people who still come and use the trails, but the only animals here are the wild ducks in the pond, and the deer are still here, but they’ll be moving when the weather gets cooler,” said Brass Elson.
She said she hasn’t been asked to leave and is still on good terms with Parks Canada and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“We’re trying to work with one another in good faith.”

*AWARE Simcoe note: the people at the healing circle Sunday were both aboriginal and non-native.