Huron of 1850 Engagement at Youth Odena’s Ode’miin Giizis Virtual Festival

By Jenilee Neveau

This past summer, I was given the opportunity to engage and teach youth about Treaty at the Youth Odena Ode’miin Giizis Virtual Festival. This festival was part of Bringing Spirits Together in a Good Way, a collaborative project led by Youth Odena to increase reconciliatory relationships, increase access to safer cultural spaces, and deepen understanding of ceremony as it relates to concepts of worldview, time, space, and the universe. The project incorporates culture and ceremony to broaden awareness, heal trauma, and create meaningful relationships with multiple communities.

The Youth Odena Ode’miin Giizis Virtual Festival was held over three days in June and brought together multiple mainstream and Indigenous child and youth organizations, including child welfare, educational, and social services. Ode’min Giizis is what Anishinaabe refer to as the Strawberry Moon and is the sixth moon of the year. During this moon cycle, communities usually hold their annual feasts, welcoming everyone home, regardless of their differences over the past year, letting go of judgment and self-righteousness. Also, the strawberry is the first berry to ripen and is thought to be good medicine for the heart and teeth.

The virtual conference was made possible by Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin, Larimar Homes Inc., Laidlaw Foundation, CatalystsX and Northern Lights Collaborative. Youth participants were provided with laptops so they could attend the conference, and many of the youth won additional prizes as well.

The youth and staff from Youth Odena and Larimar Homes Inc. particularly liked the first day. Participants enjoyed getting familiar with the website link, watching the video about the 7 Grandfather Teachings, and getting out onto the land to discover the beautiful rocks Jenilee hid for them at the Rankin Powwow Grounds. It was a beautiful sunny day, and everyone was excited about the introduction gifts from Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin and Youth Odena. Some participants even created their own artwork about the 7 Grandfather Teachings and shared the pictures with us.

The second day was a beautiful warm day and participants shared pictures with festival organizers of them enjoying the festival in the beautiful sun. Participants enjoyed learning about Robinson Huron Waawiindaamaagewin, an organization created by the 21 First Nations of the Robinson Huron Treaty. Most notably, the adult participants who work with Indigenous youth were impacted by gaining a basic understanding of these topics.

The adult participants were able to help the youth work through the Treaty Tracks Activity Booklet and most families finished all the activities.

On the third and last day, I led the participants through the Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin GIS Portal to teach them some mapping skills and give them a better perspective on what their Treaty area and communities look like. Some families chose to let children draw maps for this activity if the GIS was too complicated for them, but some youth created maps using the GIS tool. Overall, everyone said it was a fun way to learn about mapping.