LISTENING SETTING: If possible, please listen to Elder Whabagoon’s teaching outside in the open air. If being outside is not possible, please stand or sit near a window. Find a spot in which you can see both the ground and the sky. Be aware of the water around you, whether it be a lake, river, snow, or the water within the earth or your body. Breathe deeply. Listen.

  DESCRIPTION: The Sharing offers us lessons from a pipe ceremony that Elder Whabagoon conducted about a year ago. It focuses on the four directions. Elder Whabagoon helps us connect with the sun, water, air and ground and encourages us to say Miigwetch every day.

  BIOGRAPHY: Elder Whabagoon is an Ojibway Elder, a member of the Lac Seul First Nation, and sits with the Loon Clan. Born in Sioux Lookout, ON, she is a Keeper of Sacred Pipes, active community member, speaker, land defender and water protector. Whabagoon is a Sixties Scoop Survivor and was raised along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario.

Whabagoon recently accepted the position of First People’s Leadership Advisor to the Dean at the John H. Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. She is co-founder, co-lead, and Elder for Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag, a University of Toronto Access program that works with Indigenous youth to re-connect their spirit with the land and the water through land-based teachings, ceremonies and green infrastructure. Whabagoon has been honoured at High Table, Massey College, at the University of Toronto for her community work with Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag. She presented her youth program to The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) in British Columbia and has been quoted in the CSLA publication Landscapes and Passages: Reconciliation Edition.

Never far from water, Whabagoon leads Sunrise Water Ceremonies and Gatherings by the Fire, to hold space for those who want to listen and share about sacred ceremony, land and water.

Whabagoon has led opening ceremonies, with song and drumming, for: OCAD University’s Convocation and the landmark Shanawdithit, Indigenous Opera, World Premiere.

In her spare time, Whabagoon enjoys writing, painting, singing, drumming, and spending time with her husband of 23 years, Karl, Knowledge Keeper of the Eastern Door, L’Nu Nation, Lynx Clan, and her black cat, Theo.

“I honour my ancestors and the teachings of those who came before me.” – Whabagoon

  © 2021 Elder Whabagoon. All rights reserved.