• Home
• Seeking Knowledge

Seeking Knowledge

A place for people.

by Smith Atimoyoo

The Elders were called together in council to discuss the question – “What do we call this place?” As the story goes this is the place where our people came to a long time ago. It was a time before horses when people used dogs to carry their belongings. Hundreds of people used to come here…to this ancient piece of land that was given to our people.

We came here to revive our culture, to relearn our songs, to do the traditional things that we used to do such as the sweats and the sun dances. We talked about how we should be respecting these ceremonies once again as we renew our past. We once told stories so that our culture would remain strong.

This is a place designated for The People to come to renew their culture, renew their relationships with nature. These issues are very important to our people this is why in thousands of years past, our people travelled here to live in harmony with nature, to live in harmony with other people.

This place, Wanuskewin, is a gift…a gift given by the Creator to us to enhance and retain our culture. This is a powerful place. Our people, our Elders, used to pray with the pipe and talk about this place. This is a peaceful place, not only for our own people but for people from all over the world. That is what our Elders used to pray about when they had their sweetgrass ceremonies.

We talk about the peace that we long for, the love for our children and grandchildren. We would like them to live productive lives in harmony with the gifts we have received from the creator; the gift of living, the gift of language and the gift of culture. These are essential to us now, all of us, and we can not lose this chance to share our culture and teach our children and others about these precious gifts.

After talking to the Elders, it was decided to call this place Wanuskewin. We come here to seek the spirit of harmony and goodwill…to meet many interesting people and share with them our culture. It is through sharing that we grow…and this is a place for all the nations to share…and grow…in harmony.