Day 3: Soil Ingestion Research Project ~ Cold Lake First Nations (English Bay)

Day 3:

Oil floating in a stream by a Beaver Dam & creek

Today was a great day.  We went to about four different locations to gather.  I tried to do a mental map in my head of how to get back to those locations again but also as back up I made notes and even drew a map of how to return to these places.  We went West & North of our camp.  We hit Hilda Lake, Ethel Lake, & Marie Lake.  All are beautiful lakes but you could see how industry is already affecting the water & vegetation.  We saw floating oil on some streams and plants near those polluted streams are dying or sickly looking.  Also people are leaving a lot of garbage out there in the bushes etc..  It was quite frustrating & sad to see  garbage, beer cans, bottles, & trash in good berry & medicine areas.  The sad thing about beer cans etc.. is small animals like squirrels etc.. will put there paws in there & end up cutting them off.  Garbage is so damaging to the animals.  I so wish people would be more conscious of their actions.  This land is so beautiful and there are places so rich in color & beauty, then you see garbage & that just doesn’t belong in such tranquility.  If anything after you read my journal entries, you walk away with more appreciation & respect for the land and environment because we are part of the environment too.  We don’t respect our environment, we don’t respect ourselves.  I ask you know, would you throw oil or garbage on your precious children?  If not, then why are we leaving that behind for our children to inherit.

We ALL need to pay attention to the foot prints
we are leaving behind for our children.

I felt so grateful today because there is a medicine I have been trying to find that could help my uncle with his cancer & it’s hard to find now because it’s habitat is being threatened.  When we were taken to the sight,  we all did our tobacco offerings.  All five of us worked together to help me find this medicine for my uncle.  We walked in the muskeg so far in water & I felt so grateful for all the support, we worked together for one cause ~ to help my uncle!  As we walked, we looked and looked for about 30 minutes.  I showed them all a picture of the plant because most of us never saw this medicine, & we couldn’t find it right away.  So as I was walking, I started to pray for my uncle & asked the spirit medicine to show it’s self, within 5 minutes I saw it.  It was so amazing, I felt my heart warm & a tear drop, I felt kinânaskomotinan (so grateful with much humility & respect).  Once we all saw the medicine, it was like it was jumping out at us.  We made sure to leave some there.  For instance, if we saw four, we left one so they can still grow, repopulate, we never take more than we need.

Yes, was a great day of a lot of medicines and we gathered more berries than the day before by Hilda Lake.

When we got back to camp, I called my uncle & told him what we found, he was so happy.  I felt so happy to be able to tell him we found what could help him, hopefully I will see him tomorrow.  He might come out here to pick up the medicine & maybe then my new found friends can meet my nohtwayis (my little father) I love so much.

Well we ended our day sharing stories around the camp fire with brief periods of rain.  I hung my medicines to dry & laid the others out to dry.

Later I took our Elder out to Cold Lake to get rubber boots & I picked up a propane heater because it’s getting cold at nights now & my Half Inuit Oven (Ken hee, hee) is warm at home gathering medicines in the Kehewin area.

Today was a good day to be “Indigenous”!

Day 2: Soil Ingestion Project ~ Cold Lake First Nations (English Bay)

Day 2:

Cranberry

Today was a good day, we walked pretty far through a slough to get to one of the sites where we can pick berries, sweetgrass, & other medicines.  I was so amazed the sweetgrass was half my height (I am 5' 3") after I braided it.  These braids are defiantly for my mom :) ~ she'll just love me up lol.

I know for sure I have to bring my rubber boots because at one point I had to take my boots off & walk bare feet across the same exact place me & my auntie Alice got stuck the day before.  It was all good though because now I have smooth soft feet from the mud lol, jokes! 

One thing for sure, is Cold Lake First Nations if very beautiful, there is so much here in regards to medicines and everything we would need to sustain ourselves.  The people at the English Bay Community Centre have been so welcoming, kind, & hospitable to all of us who are on this project.

My "Hidalgo" tent lol

The funny thing we are having a hard time getting used to is being a Ginny Pig & having to do the urine & fecal samples.  We’ve had some funny laughs around the camp fire about this.  One thing about our people is we sure know how to laugh.  We are like a little family here and we help & share & are very respectful to each other.  One of the participants calls me “Princess” (jokingly) because I have the largest tent & even with an entrance way (ha ha ha).  I was laughing about it saying I feel like that blonde haired rich woman in the movie, “Hidalgo (not Horaldo, my son corrected me after reading my post)” where that woman has that huge tent in Arabia lol.

It rained a bit but it was only enough to slow people down & take a rest until the sun came out again.  I am learning so much about medicines and I love listening to one of my relatives share Dene stories about the old ways, the old people, & traditional ways our people collected, gathered, hunted, fished etc. in this area.  I have been trying to keep making mental notes to remember stuff.  For instance, I learned that “sus” is Dene for “bear” & “susas” is Dene for “little bear”.  In Cree, “bear” means “muskwa” & “little bear” means “muskwasis”.

I also met more family today & got a great hug from my auntie Melanie, loving is always special & worth paying attention too.  A hug maybe a small thing to others but a great gift when you need it.

Well today was a great day & know tomorrow will be awesome because I am surrounded by great people.

Day 1: Soil Ingestion Research Project ~ Cold Lake First Nations (English Bay)

DAY 1:

Cold Lake First Nations - English Bay Community Centre

All ten (10) participants met at the Cold Lake First Nations E-Bay Community Centre.  There are eight (8) of us participants from the First Nations surrounding the St. Paul Area.  The other participants are our two (2) researchers from the University of Ottawa.  There was still issues with a viable area to set up camp; therefore, it was settled we would set up camp beside the old catholic church next to the CLFNS E-bay Community Centre.  This is a beautiful area and we will be staying in this area until Saturday.  Once the other researcher arrives from Ottawa, we will decide if we are moving to another camp away from the road and more closer to oil activity so we are able to test the medicines, gathered food, & hunted food etc. and the oil activities effect on our food chain.

Before we started the project, we attended the weekly soup & bannock at the centre & had excellent homemade apple pie, hmmmmmm good.

Later we offered tobacco & sweetgrass to two local Elders for blessings, support, & prayers during this project and to keep us safe and to ensure our success.  The Elders had wise words and we are so grateful for their support.  Later that day we set up our camp, got to know each other and become a little more familiar with each other around the camp fire.

One of the crazy events was a lady drove up & asked what was happening here.  So I explained we were Ginny Pigs for a research project that will test the effects of industry like oil, jet planes etc. on our environment and our traditional medicines, foods etc.  I found out she was my mom’s first cousin, Alice, so she told me to jump in her jeep & she was going to show me a excellent berry picking spot, it was going to take only 5 minutes.  Well, 5 minutes turned into 40 minutes because she drove us right into a slough lol.  Thank goodness for cell phones, so we called our strong rescuers, my Ken and her brother, David.  We laughed & laughed when we sunk and she said, “now they will say that it’s because we are woman”.  So when her brother came, he was trying to be grumpy & I told him, it was okay, we would let them save us & he could have bragging rights for the week lol.  I told my auntie, at least we have a great story to tell now.

I was glad to meet more family and I also found out another person in the project is my uncle from Whitefish Lake.  It sure is a small world.  I am very grateful for this day & to be allowed to participate in this project.

We got the low down on our role:

1.   We gather, hunt, fish etc. & conduct ourselves as Aboriginal peoples doing our traditional ways.

2.   Everything we gather, hunt etc., the researchers need a good sample for testing, this includes helping them get fecal samples from animals like bears, deer, rabbits etc.  The researchers will also be testing the soil in areas we gather etc.

3.   We are to record all our food intake daily

4.   We have to do one to two urine samples a day

5.   We have to do one to three fecal samples a day

At the end of the day, I know this will help our people to prove our environment etc. is being affected negatively and industry needs to make better choices in how they are affecting our land & our people.

I am doing this also because I want to know what has given my mother cancer.  We can never completely pin point the cause but we can get a better idea.

Our Camp

On a lighter note, I have the biggest tent & feel like a queen living it all good.  We all had a good laugh when I realized the size of my tent I bought from Canadian Tire.  First time setting it up but man, I am comfortable.  I feel like a high class nehiyaw lol.  I could have 8 more people in my tent & only little ol me is all in here. 

Soil Ingestion Research Project ~ Cold Lake, AB

Well the day is getting near, 3 more days.  Our official meeting with the researchers from University of Ottawa will be tomorrow in St. Paul, AB.  There, we will be given the complete details and what is expected of us "ginny pigs" lol.  I am still debating how organic I want to go, after all, this research project is all about testing what we ingest and that, I feel, includes the chemicals we put on our body like bug spray, shampoo, lotions etc.  ~ our skin is the largest absorbing organ on our body, it's like a sponge and it soaks up everything in our environment.  I guess, I will wait & see for the meeting tomorrow because I'm even thinking of giving up my shampoo and using baking soda & vinegar for my hair.  I watched a Youtube video on it today, quite interesting.  I am just glad I use Melaleuca products & not all these chemicals in my home.

Cold Lake, AB at sunrise in the wee morning

Well anyways, this will be my view of the sunrise for 13 days, I plan to soak up every moment.  I am so grateful for this opportunity and  it reminds me of the days, as a child, when we would spend all our summer days here with family and lots of cousins and swimming all day, making sand castles, burying each other in sand, and cooking over an open fire....awe the days of simplicity!

I am getting to excited!

I'll keep you all posted...

On Monday, August 15th, 2011 I get to meet the team of doctors involved in the project & go through the research project's rules, conditions, & expectations. I just received some information so here it is:

Terms of Engagement of Participants in the Soil Ingestion Research Project

The research is based upon fecal and urine sampling in a controlled environment where restrictions are necessary in regard to food intake, participation in outdoor food collection, preparation and ingestion of food and living within an encampment of approximately 10 participants and researchers.  On arrival participants will be required to sign a consent form and will be given instructions on their personal collection of fecal and urine samples which will be coded and sent for laboratory analysis in Ottawa.

• Arrival of participants occurs on August 17PM at English Bay Treaty Grounds and remaining at the camp until August 31PM for a period of 13 days.
• Participants will not be able to leave the camp, unless an emergency arises and if so under continuous supervision while going out of camp.  This will not be encouraged and there will also be restrictions on outside visitors to the camp.
• As a group, participants must be prepared to go on field trips to a number of environmental sites for which transportation will be arranged, likely returning to the camp daily.  Participants must be prepared with appropriate clothing and meals, prepared in conjunction with the Outfitter, to be taken on participant trips.
• Participants will need to provide their own tent, sleeping gear, lamp, change of clothing, personal hygienic supplies including insect repellant – everything they themselves need other than food, dishes and common facilities.
• Commodes and washing facilities will be arranged for participants to the extent possible.
• Meals will be of high quality utilizing to the extent possible local natural and traditional food sources and herbs, root vegetables are a natural source of soil particle ingestion.
• Strictly prohibited are convenience foods such as pop, donuts, beverages containing alcohol and tobacco (cigarettes, chewing tobacco and snuff) and others which will be explained at the camp by the researchers.
• Participants are expected to participate fully in locating and obtaining natural foods, preparing food and clean up and maintenance of the camp as will be arranged by the researchers.
• An Outfitter will be engaged to provide equipment including cooking and eating tinsels, tent for meals and other provisioning equipment.
• PARTICIPANTS MUST STAY FOR THE TOTAL DURATION – ANYONE WHO LEAVES SAMPLING CANNOT BE OF USE IN THE RESEARCH STUDY.
• Details to answer more specific questions will become available when participants arrive at the camp.

All I know is I'm bringing my own toilet & it hasn't been the first time I bathed in Cold Lake, we practically lived there as kids......ahhhhhh, the memories.


As each day gets closer, I'm getting excited & really praying my son & his girlfriend can participate ~ it'll be a great opportunity for these two young people & great experience as a family.