Day 5: Soil Ingestion Research Project ~ Cold Lake First Nations (English Bay)

Day 5:

It’s looking like we aren’t going to move camp.  This seems to be a good place to stay & we have access to the E-bay facilities like water, a shower etc… it would be nice to be next to the lake, especially since it’s so hot but, I think there is a reason (not revealed yet) our camp is where it is.  I m okay with that too because it we would waste a valuable day of testing, gathering, hunting etc. if we moved.  We are all pretty much settled here at E-bay. 

The day started off slow but we eventually got going once the researches set up their sentiment sampling machine & all local member allowed our researchers to use his boat.  Dr. Blais arrived yesterday, he is a soft spoken gentleman with a eager demeanor respectful to learn who we are and what we are all about.  You can tell he is quite interested in ensuring this project succeeds to prove the wholistic environment is being affected.  For example, today they went & did soil samples at the bottom of Hilda Lake & just by the sediment samples strong odor, there is evidence of effect; however all these samples will be tested in a laboratory like our precious waste (laughingly). 

The researchers getting prepared to do sediment sampling
at bottom of Hilda Lake

As the researchers did there biological & scientific testing, we continued to gather food & medicines at Hilda Lake Park area.  I was quite disgusted & got turned off by this camping area.  These are provincial park areas set up beside beautiful lakes for “the public” to enjoy but all I see is beautiful land being violated & disrespected.  What I mean by this is, there wasn’t any garbage cans or bathrooms available for the public to use, so you can guess the state of the area.  I felt disgusted when we went & tried to pick berries & I had a hard time finding a good clean spot because there was garbage all over, or there was evidence of human or pet waste all throughout the bushes.  We tried to pick berries but then I quit after an hour when I knelt down to pick some blueberries & I could smell human urine.  It was quite sad!

Therefore, I left & went to find my other peers & we left that area & went back to our base camp. 

It was a quite hot today, so me & my other female peer went to Cold Lake, picked up some supplies at Canadian Tire & brought everyone else back Timmy’s coffee.  I know we are supposed to live off the land.  We are but can only do it to a certain extent.  On some days we are limited with what we can harvest or hunt or fish.  Just like today, we had whitefish & potatoes for supper after our fishermen collected from the net they set the night before.  We also had muskeg tea with birch bark.  It’s quite good & tasty.

Later on my female peer & I went to Sandy beach & waded in the lake and enjoyed the refreshing lake.  I tell you, Cold Lake is the best lake EVER lol.  It has been my favorite since I was a child, when we would spend almost whole summers out here with family.  However, Sandy beach has changed too, it is quite polluted & dirty like Hilda Lake.  It also lacks the resources to keep it clean & there is garbage all over & even people relieving themselves in the bushes too.  Even when I was a child, it wasn’t so populated but now it seems everyone knows about it.  It just amazes me with all the international talks about being Environmentally Conscious & Friendly, there is such little regard for the environment in this area ~ yet, this is one of the most beautiful areas so rich in beauty, vegetation, animal life…this area is a living “medicine chest” & it’s being so abused & raped daily…such violations…Our Mother ~ Earth is a Rape Victim & we all sit back & let her being violated over & over again.

I know this entry is bleak & sad but this is what my day was about…I felt so ashamed to be human…we are the most ignorant & arrogant mammals & the stupidest!  We are such parasites!

Everyday, I pray humans will change TODAY not tomorrow…because with the current path we are on, we are sure to exterminate OURSELVES!