Grandmother Josephine Mandamin and the For Earth & Water Walk 2017 Reach Kingston

In 2008 I was speaking with Kevin McMahon about a movie he was making called Waterlife—a film about the Great Lakes. It was Kevin who first introduced me to the incredible Grandmother Josephine Mandamin and her efforts to raise awareness for Great Lakes by walking around its shorelines.

The movie came out in 2009, narrated by Gord Downie—it introduced Grandmother Josephine and the importance of the Great Lakes to a wider audience. Since that time my appreciation and respect for Grandmother Josephine has grown into admiration and action.

She is an Anishinabe Elder and walks around the Great Lakes inspiring the next generation of water walkers and protectors. This weekend she is going through Kingston as part of this summer’s For Earth & Water Walk 2017. This year’s walk will be Grandmother Josephine’s last walk as she passes the honour to the next generation.

Her message is soft but her actions are powerful and humbling. A celebration to welcome the Water Walkers in Kingston is planned for Lake Ontario Park at 5pm July 7th. If you are able to attend I highly recommend that you do.

We all need to connect to the Great Lakes if we are to understand how they shape our lives and how to do harm to our Great Lakes is to do harm to ourselves

Grandmother Josephine walks. What we can do is help contribute what we can to help her and her walkers to continue.

For more information about Grandmother Josephine and the For The Earth & Water Walk 2017 including how you can contribute please visit: http://www.motherearthwaterwalk.com