Lakehead University’s Niijii Indigenous Mentorship Program hosted Water Walker Day at Westmount Public School.
This is the first time the event has been put on, but organizers hope this can be a yearly day of education as part of Science Literacy Week in Canada
The event highlights the messages in the book The Water Walker written by Joanne Robertson, which is based on the life of Josephine Mandamin, the Anishnaabe Water Warrior who led walks around all five Great Lakes in hopes of bringing awareness to the importance of water.
Lisa Harris with Lakehead University went to multiple classes during the event, reading book to students.
“The book itself is called The Water Walker, and we chose that book because it portrays Indigenous science and Indigenous culture,” explains Harris. “It brings the importance message of water, and how we need to protect it and keep it clean and have it for future generations.”
Students were sent home with their own copy of the book, along with a reusable water bottle.
Harris goes on to say how important it is to teach youth about water preservation, especially in a nation that has such a significant amount of the world’s fresh water.
“I think it’s crucial, we’re on the largest fresh water lake in the world and we completely take advantage of the fact that we have more water than we could ever use, and most people in the world don’t have that,” stressed Harris. “Just because it’s here, doesn’t mean we need to use it and pollute it because it’s a precious resource and needs to be protected the way that it is now, and hopefully make it better.”
Canada has about 20 per cent of fresh water in the world, about 7 per cent of that considered “renewable.”
