Aboriginal camp prepares for winter in Springwater

By Laurie Watt Barrie Advance September 5 2014
Eleven years ago, Kim Rose had a vision of a native spiritual healing centre.
Unaware she was part Iroquois Haudenosaunee, she created a map of a healing village that has taken root and is growing in Springwater Park. She joined Elizabeth Brass Elson, an Anishinaabe woman who wanted to protect the 193 hectares of land and water the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources stopped operating as a park April 1.
“I kept hearing I had to go north and build this native spiritual retreat to help people heal,” Rose said, adding, at the time, she didn’t know her father’s grandmother was aboriginal.
“It has come full circle and it’s quite bizarre. The bottom line is people are drawn here for healing and they don’t necessarily understand the depth of what’s going on. They want to be a part of it for an hour, a day or several days. They always leave with a little more fullness in themselves. A lot of special things happen on this land.”
Brass Elson said she already feels the cool winds of fall and relit the fire in the cabin Tuesday. She plans to stay through the winter and continues to talk with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Parks Ontario.
“We all want to see this land be taken care of,” she added.
Camp Nibi (pronounced ‘ni-bay’, meaning spring water) began with a group of four, including Elson and Rose, in a cabin at the 193-hectare park.
It has grown to include several tents that house as many as 15 people, a teaching lodge, teepee, and sweat lodge — a spiritual place where people go to be cleansed and healed as if they were to go back into their mother’s womb and start again.
There are full-moon ceremonies — the next Sept. 19 at dusk — and healing ceremonies. Recently, a drumming circle has formed.
Brass Elson, an initiate at the Midewan Three Fires Lodge, has brought in an elder to bless the land and the growing community that unites people of many aboriginal heritages.
“This is a place where there’s a lot of different First Nations, rich in history, because it’s such a beautiful, spiritual place,” said Brass Elson.
“The man who designed this (park) said it should be a template for forestry in Ontario. His energy is still here. He started the tree nursery and his vision lives. It’s a shame the Ministry  (of Natural Resources) doesn’t want to sustain it. This land has lots of offer everybody.”