The Final Challenge of the Great Waters Challenge
This is a video that I made to illustrate the event #PassTheGlass and to show what Lake Ontario means to community members in Toronto.
Thank you to Robyn for sharing photographs and videos of the event! Thank you to Kelvin for lending me your GoPro! Thank you to the other organizers and sponsors for making this event a success! And thank you to everyone who came out and participated in #PassTheGlass! I learned so much from every single one of you (and we hope you learned something too)!
"What does Lake Ontario mean to you?"
It was a long five months waiting for the second round of Level 1 of the Great Waters Challenge (GWC) to finish and for Level 2 to start. I was flowing with motivation and excitement to see what the new challenges would bring. Finally, spring had sprung and the challenge for Level 2 was announced! We had to join together with the other GWC players in our city to organize and report on a water celebration. I was so ecstatic to get to meet the other players and to brainstorm ideas for an epic water celebration! Also, I couldn't help but notice that the golden prize winner gets to participate in the World Youth Parliament for Water (WWYP) in Brasilia, Brazil in 2018.
Now I do love a good competition, but what I love more is sharing my knowledge to help heal and protect the waters and to build strong, reciprocal relationships with water. Level 2 provides three incredible opportunities to share my love and knowledge of water: locally with folks in my community, online through my social media networks, and (possibly) internationally with youth across the world dedicated to protecting water. To win the GWC would be more than I could ever imagine, but win or lose, I am dedicated to the waters.
After coming together with the other GWC players and collaborating ideas for a water celebration, we (with the help of a few friends) came up with #PassTheGlass — a water walk to learn about and embody Toronto’s water cycle, lost rivers and histories by pouring water glass to glass from downtown to Lake Ontario. We wanted to create a celebration of love and gratitude for the city’s taken-for-granted waters by becoming a physical manifestation of those waters.
GWC Meeting of the Minds in Toronto - May 6th, 2017
To help organize the event, I assisted in coordinating the time and location for the walk, created the promotion blurb and advertisement, handed out flyers for the event, and spread the word all over my social media accounts. For my major contribution, I wanted to bring together art, love and water, so I created an arts-based activity station along the route of the walk to show our deep appreciations for Lake Ontario. I picked-up the art supplies and biked the 6-foot long canvas roll across the city. (I did get a lot of weird looks, but I am telling you it was both a great arm workout and balancing exercise.)
On the morning of the event, Sylvie, Rosemary, Annie, Robyn and I set-up for the art-station at Stanley Park, then we went to Trinity Bellwoods Park to kick off the celebration! Thankfully, Dona could keep an eye on the art supplies in the meantime.
For the route of #PassTheGlass, we walked along (a segment of) the Garrison Creek, a lost river in Toronto that was buried and incorporated into the city’s water infrastructure as a sewer in the late 1800s to early 1900s. To physically and visually embody the Garrison Creek as a human river, we carried fish sticks and dressed in blue.
We started at Trinity Bellwoods Park to do an introduction to the event. We spoke about the significance of the Garrison Creek and then sang a song to start the celebration. We stopped at several points along the walk to discuss the history of the river and of the city, and finished at the Spadina Quay Wetlands at the Toronto Waterfront.
#PassTheGlass Route
#PassTheGlass starting at Trinity Bellwoods Park
Our first stopping point was at Meegwetch Lane, where Reno did a land acknowledgment and spoke about the meaning of Meegwetch, which is thank you in Ojibwe, as well as other First Nations' languages.
The next stop was at Stanley Park, where Leah and Helen spoke about the history of agriculture, gentrification and pollution in the area. At one point, the Garrison Creek was known as the "Blood River" because of the waste from the slaughterhouses.
We also stopped at Stanley Park for the arts-based activity station, where I had asked everyone to paint, “What does Lake Ontario mean to you?”. I then interviewed folks on camera (who were willing) about their answer and what they painted. Every person I spoke with (on and off the camera) had a unique answer based on their experiences with the waters and where they lived, worked, and played in the city. However, although the answers and paintings were diverse, every person's connections weaved together in profound ways.
Everything about a person (experiences, history, heritage, class, race, sex, gender, ability, intellect, geography, culture, etc.) shapes how they perceive and understand the world around them. But, there is one thing that every person shares amidst all the differences: we are mostly made of water, we need water to survive, and we all have a connection with water. Whether that connection is weak, strong, spiritual, consumerist, environmental, recreational, physical, or mental… We are connected with water; we are connected with each other through water; and we are connected with Mother Earth through water.
Water is what makes our tiny planet in this vast universe so special. Water is life and water is alive. We need to cherish this sacred connection with water — and this starts with love and gratitude. We must appreciate and celebrate our water bodies! Our source of water is our very source of being. If we live on Lake Ontario — we drink, bathe, clean and cook with water from Lake Ontario — we become Lake Ontario! We are 60-70% water, which means we are 60-70% Lake Ontario!
The water inside of ourselves is a reflection of the water outside of ourselves. We need to take care of Lake Ontario just as we want to take care of ourselves and of each other. Everyone's answers really illuminated this inherently deep connection that we all have with water. I could feel their connections with the waters come to life as they shared and painted. It was beautiful and touching to hear their stories and see their creations. That is really what the GWC is all about —sharing our relationships with our local water bodies to showcase the deep connection that lies between our water and our identity as Canadians, from traditional Indigenous Knowledges to Western practices. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to bring this art activity to the event and to see and feel the ripple effect of love and gratitude wave through the different stories and paintings. I hope that when watching the video, you can feel that ripple too.
#PassTheGlass art mural "What does Lake Ontario mean to you?"
Our next stop was at the Bathurst Development Project, where Leah spoke about the former smelter facility and the lead poisoning from the smelting practices.
We then stopped at the “Wall of Oblivion”, where Darlene spoke about the history of colonialism in Canada and how the wall does not pay tribute to Indigenous peoples. Before the city expanded the land, this was where the Lake Ontario shoreline used to be, as well as the mouth of the Garrison Creek. From Fort York and onwards, the land is entirely landfill, but the river is still running inside of a sewer system beneath the ground to Lake Ontario. Toronto has changed significantly over the years of colonialism and industrialization, and it is important to remember how the lands and waters used to be.
As we are celebrating "Canada's 150th birthday" today, we need to remember that the history of the lands, waters and First Peoples of Canada goes far beyond 150 years. While it is important to celebrate our progress as a nation, we also need to recognize how much work needs to be done.
For example:
- Indigenous peoples in Canada face ongoing water insecurities and Drinking Water Advisories (DWAs).
- Grassy Narrows First Nation has mercury contamination with levels detected 80 times than what is expected in the rest of Ontario.
Generally, Indigenous peoples in Canada face significantly more inequalities than the average Canadian settler. I do not believe that it is justifiable that the Canada 150 celebrations cost approximately $500,000,000, while there are still so many systematic issues that marginalize and oppress Indigenous peoples.
While I am still proud to be Canadian and to live in Canada, I am not proud of the colonialism in Canada and I will continue to actively work towards decolonization. As settlers, we need to decolonize our minds and our relationships with Mother Earth and with Indigenous peoples.
"The Wall of Oblivion" at Fort York
The next stop was at the modern mouth of the Garrison Creek, a sewer hole at Bathurst Quay. Helen spoke about the re-engineering of rivers in the city and that there are many other rivers buried in Toronto. Lost Rivers Toronto, Rivers Rising Toronto and Live Green Toronto host various water walks along the buried rivers in the city to discuss the history and significance of those rivers. Though underground, these rivers are still crucial to Toronto's watershed, and it is important to consider how our activities impact the waters.
Modern mouth of the Garrison Creek
Our last stop was at Spadina Quay Wetlands. Darlene spoke about our connections with nature and water, and how we must not forget about this connection or to take it for granted in any way. As she was speaking, a red-winged blackbird flew over to us and sat on the railing next to her. In that moment we were all reminded that the animals are always listening and watching over us. Darlene then led a hand drumming song, and the strong beats of the drum echoed through the wetlands and through our spirits. It was beautiful and powerful to hear her sing and drum. Meegwetch, Darlene.
Darlene hand drumming and singing
After the drum song, we finally #PassedTheGlass! We poured the water from glass to glass then back into Lake Ontario. The water from Lake Ontario is shared with approximately 9 million people in both Canada and the United States, and the water we take from the lake eventually goes right back into it again. We wanted to embrace the waters from Lake Ontario both inside and outside of ourselves and share this connection with one another. The final pouring of the water into Lake Ontario symbolized this water cycle coming full circle, and then Darlene expressed our gratitude by gifting the waters sema (tobacco).
#PassTheGlass at Spadina Quay Wetlands
I would like to extend an enormous thank you to Waterlution, Lost Rivers Toronto, Rivers Rising Toronto and Live Green Toronto for the incredible opportunity to co-organize a celebration of water here in Toronto. By opening our hearts, minds, bodies and spirits to Lake Ontario, we can create a ripple effect of love and gratitude. Just as Grandmother Josephine Mandamin encourages us to stand up and say, “Nga zhichige Nibi Onji” (I will do it for the water!)
“Nga zhichige Nibi Onji! I will do it for the water!”
Overall, I am very humbled and grateful to be able to have witnessed firsthand how my relationships with Lake Ontario grew stronger over the duration of these challenges, as well as my community’s relationships. Since the first challenge, I have wanted to create a ripple effect of love and gratitude for the waters, and I believe that the ripple is just getting bigger and bigger.
I look forward to bringing my new knowledges and experiences from the GWC into my life and research. I truly believe that there is nothing more important for me to do than to help protect and heal the waters and to build stronger relationships with water.
Meegwetch.
Video Transcript:
Q = Question
A = Answer
(Q) What does Lake Ontario mean to you?
(A1) Trying to unlearn colonial ideas about water, how we interact with it and that it's everything, the source of our being.
(A2) I have a really deep connection with it and it's the mom of the water.
(A3) Our source of drinking water because the whole city of Toronto depends on it. Uhm, we really need it so it's important to keep it clean so that also our drinking water is a good resource for our generations and future generations.
(A4) I believe that Lake Ontario is our resource for freshwater, it's our lifeline as Ontarians and it's important that we not pollute it. We should use these resources, which are provided for us, which is why I believe that it's important to seas the day and go aqua!
(A5) How we came to this place, like we picked Toronto because it's so close to a really great body of water.
(Q) What does Lake Ontario mean to you?
(A6) *Bark* *Bark* *Bark* (Water is life!)
(A7) Survival of the human race.
(A8) It means home and it means not also celebrating it but taking care of it for future generations to come.
(A9) When I think of Lake Ontario I think of this vast body of water that we are on the edge of. And it's the reason why Toronto is where it is, along with Garrison Creek. Lake Ontario is the vast water the edge of which we cling to.
(A10) Lake Ontario is where my husband and I really enjoyed most of our early years of dating. So near Port Credit. So it really meant a lot to me in terms of memories and love.
(A11) It's the source of life for all of us living here in Toronto. It feeds our water system and all our water goes back to it. We need to recognize that and take care of our lake.
(A12) Lake Ontario means to me the spirit of my ancestors.
(A13) Home, it's where I've lived my whole life.
(A14) Vastness, sometimes I sit there uhm before work, I am fortunate enough to work near there, that I just look at it and say "Wow! This could be an ocean. It just goes so far!"
(A15) Home in a very deep way. The life support system of our entire community and the natural system around us.
(A16) It means to me life in the city and beyond.
(A17) I just want to put a message out there and say, "People, stop polluting the lake!" *Clap*
*Song* Water is life. For Lake Ontario! Ohhhhh ohhh oh. Water is Life.
*Cheering*