Two Trent alumni and influential Indigenous women lead a restorative movement focused on Indigenous water knowledge and a landmark clean drinking water settlement
Whether revitalizing Indigenous water knowledges and practices or playing a leading role in winning a $8 billion class action to ensure First Nations access to clean drinking water, Trent alumni, Dr. Barbara Wall ’12 and Curve Lake First Nation Chief Emily Whetung ’03 are revitalizing and mobilizing a movement that celebrates Indigenous connections to water.
Professor Wall, a lecturer and assistant professor in the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, has dedicated her life’s work to uncovering and revitalizing Indigenous water knowledges and practices, the focus of her recent Ph.D. research in a dissertation called It Flows from the Heart: Bodwewaadmii Anishinaabekwewag Nibi Waawiindmowin.
“As Anishinaabe people, we have seven grandfather or ancestor teachings,” says Prof. Wall. “One of those values or principles is love. I chose the title to acknowledge that love is needed to do this work, because in the reclaiming and remembering process there’s healing involved: personal healing, family healing, and healing of intergenerational trauma.”
Healing the wrongs of the past also spurred Chief Emily Whetung, also a Trent grad, in her pursuit for clean drinking water for First Nations communities. She was one of three lead plaintiffs in the recent $8 billion class action settlement with the federal government. A graduate of Trent’s Philosophy program, Chief Whetung continues to foster close ties with Trent in her role as chief, building what she describes as a “gold standard relationship” between Trent and Curve Lake First Nation.
“There’s a freedom at Trent to be creative and to use Indigenous research methodologies that privilege our voices,” adds Prof. Wall. “The support system and community, as well as the relationships that Trent helps create, is fundamental to my research and all my work.”
