Walking the Talk: Activating for the Water

Keynote speaker: Tasha Beeds

Tasha Beeds is an Indigenous scholar of nêhiyaw, Scottish-Metis, and Caribbean ancestry from the Treaty 6 territories of Saskatchewan. She activates from various, connected roles: as a mama to a son, a kôhkom to 2 little girls, a creative artist and poet, a Water Walker, and a Midewiwin from Minweyweywigaan Lodge whose western doorway sits in Roseau River First Nations in Manitoba and whose eastern doorway is in Wiikwemkoong, Manitoulin Island. She belongs to the Makwa (Bear) Clan and is also a traditional daughter to Daabaasanaqwat (Peter Atkinson), Turtle Clan from Roseau River.

Tasha’s collective work highlights and celebrates Indigeneity while promoting Indigenous nationhood and sovereignty. She further advocates for active care and protection of the land and waters and all of Creation based on carrying Indigenous ancestral legacies forward for the generations to come. She asserts Indigenous intellectual bundles, legal orders, cultural legacies, and spiritual traditions have survived and will continue to flourish. Currently, Tasha is the Ron Ianni Fellow at the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law where she is teaching with the Indigenous Legal Orders Institute on many of the themes reflected in her life work. She will be Walking for the Water twice in the Spring/Summer if Covid19 permits, helping to carry her late teacher and mentor Josephine-Ba Mandamin’s legacy forward. The first Water Walk will take place in Sudbury Ontario over the span of 4 days for 135 kms while her second will see her walking for the Saskatchewan River from Alberta through to Manitoba for a total of approximately 1900 kms over 2 months. Please see https://linktr.ee/nikwejiwong and https://linktr.ee/SaskRiverWaterWalk for more information on the Water Walks.