A growing number of First Nations women are finding healing and empowering future generations with traditional plant knowledge.

Gracyn Tanche, who is Dehcho Dene from Fort Simpson, N.W.T., found healing by reconnecting with the land and learning about traditional Indigenous medicines. During a traditional healing program, she took part in ceremonies, prayers, and drum songs and gathered plants such as spruce tips, chaga, devil’s club, and juniper to make natural medicines. The experience helped her better understand herself, heal from personal and intergenerational trauma, and move forward from addiction. Now, Tanche is sharing what she has learned by organizing medicine-picking workshops for her community.

Marie Anderson, also from Fort Simpson, attended a similar workshop with Dehcho First Nations two years ago, which sparked a passion for foraging in her. Anderson harvests medicines in her downtime, which has given her a stronger sense of her Dene identity.

Anishinaabe educator Shirli Ewanchuk is helping First Nations people of all ages reconnect with their culture by teaching them how to identify native plants and grow food as their ancestors did. Ewanchuk learned European gardening methods from her father and later realized that Indigenous farming practices were missing from the school curriculum. She further researched traditional Anishinaabe agriculture and now teaches others so these important cultural traditions can be preserved and passed on to future generations.

Noting that traditional plant knowledge was lost through the residential school system and other policies, she says we need to teach all children how to survive on the land.

Source: Elena Hudgins Lyle, CBC