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Northland partners with NGLVC to host Anishinaabe water walker

March 21, 2012

Northland College is partnering with the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland to host Anishinaabe water walker Josephine Mandamin on Monday, March 26, at 7 p.m. Mandamin will speak at the visitor center about her experience coordinating the 2011 Mother Earth Water Walk. The event, another offering in the Northland College Community Connections series, is free and open to the public.

Anishinaabe elder and teacher Josephine Mandamin hails from the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve in Canada. Mandamin coordinated the 2011 Mother Earth Water Walk to help raise awareness of the need to protect freshwater. As a result, the water walk helped bring together more than 100 tribes and First Nations to sign the Tribal and First Nations Great Lakes Water Accord in order to protect water.

"Josephine has been instrumental in the movement to address freshwater issues in Great Lakes communities and the ways that it impacts Native communities," says Chantal Norrgard, Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at Northland College. "A number of different groups are trying to raise awareness of the water shortage we're beginning to experience globally.... It may not be very obvious the crisis we're seeing with water in the Great Lakes region, but the need for freshwater impacts everyone."

Mandamin and her supporters have walked the full length of all five Great Lakes. Katrina Werchouski, Coordinator for Multicultural Programs at Northland, says it seemed fitting to discuss Mandamin's efforts to protect freshwater as Northland celebrates Indigenous Cultures Awareness Month during March.

"This is an exciting and vibrant time on campus as we celebrate the cultural, traditional and social practices of indigenous cultures," says Werchouski. "The Chequamegon Bay area community is fortunate to live alongside two indigenous tribes and the events being held offer everyone a chance to recognize native cultures and better understand them."

Mandamin's presentation is one of many events being held during Indigenous Cultures Awareness Month at Northland College through the Native American and Indigenous Cultures Center. The event is sponsored by the Northland College Native American Student Association with support from partners, including the Lake Superior Binational Forum, the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, with additional funding from the A.D. & Mary Elizabeth Hulings Chair in the Humanities, the Otto Bremer Foundation, the Brown Family Foundation, and the Steve J. Miller Foundation. For a full listing of events, go to www.northland.edu/naicc.