Okanese First Nation announces walking and healing path

WATCH: Okanese First Nation has unveiled a large project. The construction of a walking and healing path will soon begin.

Okanese First Nation and Prairie Co-op have announced their plans to build a new walking and healing path near Daywalker Home Fire Family Centre.

“I’m just very grateful that we finally come to this day. The realization, that teepees are up,” said retired chief Marie-Anne Daywalker Pelletier. “It just gives me a good feeling that the journey has begun.”

The idea of the walking and healing path came from the former chief.

“In 2021, the former director and I came out here and we just drove by and looked at the space,” Daywalker explained. “I realized that we could smell the medicines that we used to use.”

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After talking with their elders, they decided to create a space, which will promote mental health, physical, emotional, and social well-being.

According to their plans, the new venue will also connect elders with new generations, promoting knowledge sharing of traditional medicine and ailments.

“Well, there’s the lady slipper, it’s a medicine. The elders will teach us how to utilize them, how to pick them,” Daywalker added.

This new venue will allow band members to leave offerings, smudge, pray, find solace, and do self-healing, according to Chief Richard Stonechild, who was also at the event.

The design comes from Rick Stonechild.

“I came to work and [former chief Daywalker] told me about [her plan to build the venue] and then right way, everything popped into my head. I grabbed some paper and I started drawing,” Rick told CTV News.

According to his plans, the venue will include a gazebo.

Currently, a young aspen tree marks the center of the new venue, Daywalker says they hope to include the tree itself.

In order to realize the first nation’s dream of building the new walking and healing path, Prairie Co-op pitched in with $150,000.

“We’ve been on our path to truth and reconciliation for a few years. Now with Prairie Co-op and really, reconciliation is more than just a land acknowledgment. It’s actual actions,” said Terry Vanmackelberg, general manager of Prairie Co-op.

This year, they received over 900 applications for the Federal Co-op’s Community Spaces Grant for the grand total of $1 million. Five of those projects were awarded within Saskatchewan, with one of them being Okanese First Nation’s walking and healing path.

“This one really spoke to us. We’ve worked with Chief Marie-Anne on our path for journey and reconciling over the past few years,” explained Kim Winak, a marketing specialist at Prairie Co-op.

“We really saw the value that this is going to bring to, not just the Okanese’s community, but the larger File Hills community as well.”

The Community Spaces Grant has been running for 11 years now, and it aims to support projects that carry a huge impact on a community. The applications are open through February.

The project was officially announced Monday. To celebrate, members of the community and representatives of Prairie Co-op held a feast together.

During the event, two eagles flew past. The community saw this as a good sign.

“In our culture, they represent the East, and they’re the ones who take our prayers up to the Creator,” Chief Stonechild explained. “So, seeing them was quite a significant fact. It was great. It just all came together beautifully.”

Construction is set to begin in the next couple of months – in hopes to open the new walking and healing path within the next year.