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FOLLOW US
March 17, 2026
Respecting That Which Gives Us Life
Everyone is welcome to come spend the day with Anishinaabe-Kwe as they share ceremony, teachings, and conversations grounded in their sacred relationship with water.
The gathering will feature a water ceremony with water drum along with teachings respecting spiritual connections and water stewardship with Nookomis Hilda Atkinson, Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation, and her grandchildren. Nookomis Louise Pierre, along with her daughter and granddaughters, will embark in discussions regarding water lineage teachings and the responsibilities they carry. You will hear Anishinaabe grandmothers, mothers and youth offer songs for the water.
In the afternoon, Dr. Tasha Beeds will speak about her experiences participating in water walks across Canada and the United States and raising awareness about the condition of our water systems. We will close the day with storytelling shared by Taylor Galvin and Kookum Nameo.
REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL.
For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, visit https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here. For more information, please email sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca. Please leave extra time to find parking.
About the Presenters
Mizhakoduk indizhiniikaaz, Mikinaak dodaim.
Hilda Atkinson is a Fourth Degree Midewiwin of the Three Fires Lodge and Minweyweywigaan Lodge in Roseau River.
Since 2006, she has participated in sacred water walks around Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior alongside her family and her adopted mother, the late Josephine Mandamin. She also walked in the 2011 Four Directions Water Walk from Churchill, Manitoba to Bad River, Wisconsin, and has continued to support the Anishinaabe Migration Water Walk.
Hilda carries the Little Boy Water Drum and has been entrusted with sacred water songs passed down through her family. She continues to uphold the responsibility of caring for the water and sharing its teachings.
Boozhoo, Dabasasheek Indizhinikaz, Mikinak Dodaim, Niizhing gi biindigah Midewiganing, Midewahnikwe Indow, Bagwaniskoozibiing Indoonjiba. My English name is Louise Pierre, I am from the Turtle Clan, I have entered the Midiwiwin Lodge twice. I was raised as Grandmother of the Three Fires Midiwiwin Lodge Water Line along with my daughter, Belinda Johnson and two grand-daughters Trinity and Paige. We are from Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation. Along with my sisters, Hilda, Joanne and Barb and our sons and our grandsons and grand-daughters, we have walked with our adopted mom/grandmother, the Late Josephine Mandamin around the Great Lakes in Ontario as she raised awareness for the state of the waters.
Dr. Tasha Beeds is a Black‑Indigenous scholar of nêhiyaw, Scottish‑Metis, and mixed Bajan ancestry from the Treaty 6 Territories of Saskatchewan. She moves through the world in the layered fullness of those lineages. She lives her work through many intertwined roles: mother, kôhkom, Aunty, creative artist, poet, Water Walker, and Midewiwin woman from Minweyweywigaan Lodge, grounded in the territories of Roseau River First Nation and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory.
Internationally recognized for her research and Water protection work, Tasha has been supported by the Bibliographic Society of America, NdN Collective, and Na’ah Illahee, and has held various roles with the University of Saskatchewan, University of Windsor, Carleton University, Queen’s University, and Kenjgewin Teg.
Carrying Water Walk teachings from the late Josephine Mandamin‑Ba, Elder Shirley Williams‑Ba, and Liz Osawamick, Tasha has Walked for the Water for 16 years around the Kawartha Lakes, Otonabee River, the Great Lakes, Junction Creek, and the Saskatchewan River.
Her academic, creative, and life’s work honours the brilliance and sovereignty of Indigenous nations, carrying forward the memories, teachings, and responsibilities entrusted by her Ancestors for the future generations.
Taylor Galvin Ozaawi Mashkode-Bizhiki (Brown Buffalo) is a proud Anishinaabe woman from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and a member of the Sturgeon Clan. She is a graduate student at the University of Manitoba, where her Master’s thesis explores Lake Sturgeon conservation through Indigenous science, oral storytelling, and community-based knowledge. She is also one of the lead plaintiffs and knowledge keepers in the Lake Winnipeg personhood case, advancing Indigenous water governance on the legal stage.
Taylor served as the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve Chair and is the community coordinator for an Indigenous-led environmental monitoring project in Tataskweyak Cree Nation. She is a lifelong student of many Elders and Knowledge Keepers across Manitoba. She walks in both worlds, using Western and Indigenous sciences to guide her work in land guardianship, ceremony, and environmental protection.
Taylor’s advocacy centers Indigenous youth, especially young women, whom she mentors through teachings on plants, medicines, and ceremony. She brings them into spaces of leadership to see themselves reflected in this work. Taylor has shared Indigenous knowledge internationally – from the Netherlands to Belize to World Water Week in Sweden to the United Nations in New York City – and attributes every opportunity to the strength of her people, the power of ceremony, and the resilience of community teachings.
