News

In the second season of SAMAQAN we have focused on ocean related stories and upon the hopes and fears associated with human influenced disasters. We take a long hard look at the impact of energy on the purity of our oceans, rivers and wildlife. And as always we steady our lens upon the aboriginal community. This video section is a preview of stories and images coming up in the 2011 broadcast season for SAMAQAN on APTN. Link this page to your favorites and keep coming back for fresh video’s every month leading up to our launch date TBA.

 

WATERWALK 2011

This is a documentary about strength, courage and determination. Our principal
character is a 69 year old Anishinawbe woman who is committed to raise awareness
about the state of water. She will walk thousands of miles in her effort.

Water is sacred. Water is precious. Water is powerful. Yet, the health of our water is
something that remains elusive to most people. Each day we use gallons for our daily
needs beginning with our morning coffee, the shower, flushing our toilets, brushing
our teeth. More often than not, we are oblivious to the source and quality of our
water supply.

Josephine Mandamin, great grandmother, grandmother, mother, auntie is on a
mission to change all of that. She is in her fifth year of a monumental task that few
would touch. She is walking for, or talking about, water. And if there was anybody
who could be desribed as a person who walks the talk, it is this heroic, albeit
modest, grandmother.

Each day Josephine rises at 3:30 am to pray for water. On April 9th at 4am Pacific
time she began her third day of a very long journey. She and her team walked for
fourteen hours on the second day of the launch of her latest venture. Yesterday they
walked for 12 hours. She is walking across North America, literally, to carry water
from what she describes as the four corners of Turtle Island.

Water from Puget Sound is being carried across mountain ranges and desert lands
and in two weeks they will cross the border into Canada. On April 20th, she will
start the walk from the Gulf of Mexico. On May 7th, she begins the journey from the
Atlantic Ocean. Water from the Arctic Ocean will arrive in Winnipeg by train to join
the Pacific ocean carriers and they will all converge on Lake Superior in the second
week of June. What prompted her to do all of this, which has some people shaking
their head in disbelief?

I am doing this for the water she told a small crowd gathered at the Evergreen
State College, near Shelton, Washington state, on April 9th,2011, the day before she
started her renewed journey. We will keep on going until we can join all waters from
the four corners, she said in her eloquent soft voice, I am doing this for water.

Josephine began her journey in 2002 when she had a vision about her mission in life.
It is based on a prophecy held sacred by the Anishinawbe, first nations who surround
the Great Lakes region, that there would come a time when our water would become
scarce. She felt an urgent need to raise awareness of this very crucial issue. Since
that time she has circumnavigated all of the Great lakes, starting with Superior and
then Eerie and finally Lake Michigan. On a challenge she also walked the stretch
of the St Lawrence river and now the task of her life is to complete the journey of
Waterwalk 2011 by June 12, 2011.

Our story begins with a ceremony near Puget Sound on the west coast of the state of
Washington. The Skokomish nation was honored to be asked to be the starting point.
It also happens to be the longest part of her journey, some 4 thousand kilometers
and until the walkers will have traveled 10-12 hours each day. Our crew follows
them in the initial days and will be with Josephine on the liftoff from the Gulf Coast
and from the Atlantic Ocean. We will also be there for the arrival of all four pails of
water at a location on Lake Superior.

Take a look at the Trailer - Water Walk Launch 2011

Coming Soon

The site is easy to navigate. The icons are borrowed from my ancestors who may have etched them into the side of a cliff, maybe hundreds of years ago. For a more detailed explanation just click on each icon below.

Creator and Executive Producer: Jeff Bear, Maliseet Nation