 |
| Patrick, my late brother |
In April,
2020 Patrick Deranger my late brother and a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, passed,
and his last wish was to be buried on his family’s traditional lands in Saskatchewan.
Members of our family, three brothers, the oldest Peter (age 79), an older sister, Dora (age 82), another sister ,67,plus two nieces, and the children of one of the nieces, a nephew and his wife, decided to honour Patrick’s last wish.
They left early
in the morning, at the end of July 2021 for the 12 hour journey to the end of
the road in northwestern Saskatchewan at our lake we call “Luezan Tue.” It is over a thousand kilometers from
Edmonton, Alberta and its name means “Trout Lake.” They wanted to fulfill our
brother’s last wish to bury his ashes at that lake where our father made a home
1n 1973 with several of my brothers and sisters and stayed there year round, a
stunning place not only for the natural beauty but its sacredness.
The last part before their destination is six hours of ungraded gravel road. Then they were picked up at the lake by Brian, who is the outfitter on the land by boat to our sacred traditional lands, sandy white beaches with plenty healthy trout fish in the pristine lake.
All the original members of the family who went there in 1973 with our late father were forever transformed by the sacred energy of the land and it forever changed them. Patrick was one of them. After a brief exploration of the area Patrick’s ashes were placed in a special spot and cross was erected. Some of his ashes were buried where others had been spread in the area. Cabins in these pictures originally built in 1973.
Fulfilling such
a sacred duty is an essential tradition for Indigenous families to assist the
spirit to continue its journey into the spirit world. It is the reason that the
recent discovery of thousands of unmarked graves at former residential school
properties was so egregious. Not only
that the families not have opportunity to say goodbye the trauma of not knowing
what happened to their babies compounded the trauma knowing that the spirit of
these children were not properly guided into the spirit world by their
surviving families.
I am hoping to build on this experience by planning an annual cultural camp. The evenings will
be filled with storytelling, and traditional songs that will energize the small delegation
tasked with this sacred duty and inspired them to plan an annual youth cultural
Camp, beginning next summer. The first
cultural gathering will be on leadership. These are photo from this recent journey. Finally, Heartfelt appreciation to ACFN for Financial support to make this happen. Photos From family that were there.
 |
| The pristine lake Great, grandchild Therese |
No comments:
Post a Comment