“Teachings of Water Spirit ~ Elders Honoring Water”

May 6, 2023 at ASWM Conference in Syracuse NY

We are honored to present the wisdom of Three Elders grounded by river and sea, beach, marsh and wetland, woodland and prairie, who share their notions of water as spirit. Here, the teachings of the matriarchs they have learned from are entwined within their lives—these three immense elder teachers provide a forthcoming lesson as they come together to reveal their love of Water through song and story. 

Douglas Cardinal  is best known as a world-renowned master architect and an Anishinaabe Lodge Keeper and Pipe Carrier who has deep connections with Indigenous peoples around the globe. Born in 1934 in Calgary (Alberta, Canada), his ancestry encompasses Siksika (Blackfoot) and a Scot’s background mixed with French, German, and Algonquin descent. As Cardinal’s Blackfoot father was considered a pagan by the colonial authorities, his mother was forced to send him to the Catholic boarding school of St. Joseph’s Convent so he could be made into ‘a good catholic.’ Under extreme emotional and physical duress, and out of despair, Douglas found solace and inspiration in the arts. He particularly excelled in music (he completed the Piano -Ontario Conservatory of Music training) and drawing. The influence of his mother ensured Douglas Cardinal a place where his natural talents would be recognized and best served in the field of architecture. 

Cardinal’s initial architectural education at University of British Columbia (UBC) was defined by his critique of the Bauhaus architectural philosophy. While at UBC, Douglas embraced the nature-inspired organic architectural approach of design, and after a year or so of deep reflection,  he joined the University of Texas in Austin where he gained access to Steiner and Gaudi’s spiritual connections with architecture. During this study, Cardinal rediscovered his Blackfoot heritage and dedicated himself to the human rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, in a rejection of apartheid in American society. When Douglas graduated with Honours in 1963, he returned to Canada and committed himself to a fight against an apartheid system in Canada. His focus on Indigenous worldviews and the principles of organic architecture heavily influenced his designs throughout the years; and his dedication to elders deepened his understanding of water, matriculture, and community.

The presence of water is essential in Douglas Cardinal’s designs. His flowing architecture evokes the sinuous relationship between the land and the water, always integrating the sacred forces of water whether symbolically, or physically realizing waterfalls, ponds, or recovering wetlands. His work is the physical manifestation of merged philosophies of sustainability and those Indigenous worldviews, the spiritual and the physical, as foundations of Land and Water, Nature and Earth Mother.  His dedication to elders across many territories has deepened his understanding of water, matriculture, and community.

Douglas Cardinal currently lives with his family in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, Canada, and continues to work tirelessly as an architect and an activist.

“Teachings of Water Spirit ~ Elders Honoring Water”

May 6, 2023 at ASWM Conference in Syracuse NY

We are honored to present the wisdom of Three Elders grounded by river and sea, beach, marsh and wetland, woodland and prairie, who share their notions of water as spirit. Here, the teachings of the matriarchs they have learned from are entwined within their lives—these three immense elder teachers provide a forthcoming lesson as they come together to reveal their love of Water through song and story. 

Miigam’agan – Mi’kmaq Elder  is a Wabanaki/Mi’kmaw grandmother of the Lobster Clan from Esgenoôpetitj or Burnt Church, NB. She is a mother of three wonderful adults and grandmother to five beautiful grandchildren. Much of her life has been devoted to the revival of Wabanaki culture and the Mi’kmaq language; she dedicates time to promoting an understanding of Indigenous matriarchal systems and the relevance of Mi’kmaq, her ancient language defining matrilineal and matrifocal ways. Miigam’agan shares with learners around the globe, Grandmother Teachings on the stages of life found in human developmental cycles, and the cultural history and ceremonial roles and practices of women and men, as defined by her knowledge of this ancient language and the teachings of her ancestors.  

Currently and for the past several years, Miigam’agan holds the role of Elder-in-Residence at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. In this capacity, she provides support for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and offers opportunities for them to learn from Elders who are carriers of traditional knowledge. She is an important link between the University and First Nations communities and elders in her home territory. Miigam’agan sits on the Executive Committee of the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network at the University of New Brunswick, which sets research priorities and ensures that the research they support meets the needs of urban Aboriginal peoples; she works with a number of additional faculty members on projects of Indigenous education and governance. She a member of several other women’s groups and sits on the steering committee on Adult Education Initiatives for the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. She has been integral voice in addressing issues of #MMIWG and engages in ceremony to assist young and old alike. Miigam’agan has engaged with faculty and students around the globe, within universities, colleges and communities, many of which are on Turtle Island, and from a Mi’kmaq perspective. she willingly shares her knowledge about many of the teachings she has received on matriculture. Her focus is on the seven generations and those yet to come! 

Miigam’agan is an honored member of our ASWM Advisory Board.

“Teachings of Water Spirit ~ Elders Honoring Water”

May 6, 2023 at ASWM Conference in Syracuse NY

We are honored to present the wisdom of Three Elders grounded by river and sea, beach, marsh and wetland, woodland and prairie, who share their notions of water as spirit. Here, the teachings of the matriarchs they have learned from are entwined within their lives—these three immense elder teachers provide a forthcoming lesson as they come together to reveal their love of Water through song and story. 

Marjorie Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Michif elder, filmmaker, artist, activist and educator. She is a land and water protector, a carrier of stories, and of ceremony. Born in Vassar, Manitoba, to a large Métis family, Marjorie’s life’s work has been about creating social change, working to give people the tools for creating possibilities and right relations. Whether in the classroom, community, campsite or the arts, Marjorie’s goal has been to pass on the stories, knowledge and skills that will make a difference for the future. For Marjorie, story is always medicine. Marjorie is an water protector, a water walker and an elder guide for the Saskatchewan River Water Walk (2021-2024), and she shares her story of why water needs our protections.

As an artist, Marjorie has created more than 30 films of Indigenous stories from Indigenous perspectives. These films have been screened in bingo halls and at City Hall, from Northern Labrador to New York. Marjorie sees herself as a change agent, both in her own life and in the lives of those around her. At 70, during a residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico in 2017, Marjorie reflected on a lifetime of art and activism. There, she experimented with Circus Arts and Spoken Word as new forms for sharing her life stories. In 2018, Marjorie was honoured with a retrospective of her work at the imagiNATIVE Film Festival, and with an Artistic Excellence Award from the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

As a Two-Spirit Métis, as an artist-educator and a community organizer, Marjorie takes on the tough topics that need to be discussed. Her work is focused on giving voice to, and creating safe cultural spaces for, traditionally silenced or excluded groups such as Two-Spirit youth, sex workers, survivors of sexual abuse, Indigenous women living with HIV, homeless people, and people who use substances. Marjorie is known on the local, regional and national levels as an Elder/Artivist who speaks truth to power, and who holds space for difference. She has been a Grandmother for Walking With Our Sisters; the Elder for OUT Saskatoon; and the Elder-In-Residence for the University of Saskatchewan Student Union. She has also been called on to be a Knowledge Carrier for national research initiatives that focus on Indigenous women living with HIV, Indigenous Harm Reduction, Indigenous youth who experience sexual and gender-based violence, and post-traumatic stress. In all of these, Marjorie returns to story as medicine, to art as medicine. Looking forward, her revolutionary life story, “Leave some for the birds” will be launched in the spring of 2023.