‘The land is medicine’: Walk on The National Day of Reconciliation taught culture

Residents of Revelstoke got a chance to contemplate the inter-generational harm done to Indigenous children at Canada’s residential schools and learn about traditional uses of herbs and plants on The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The Land is Medicine walk at the Forestry Museum of Revelstoke took place on the Riverside Trail, hosted by the Indigenous Friendship Society in association with the staff at the B.C. Forestry Museum.

The walk gave those in attendance insight into the cultural and historical significance of the nature that surrounds Revelstoke.

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Christy Shaw, an ethnobotanist and herbalist, taught the group about the uses of cedar trees, and how to identify culturally modified trees, trees that have been visibly altered or modified by Indigenous Peoples for usage in their cultural traditions.

Shaw acknowledged the nations on whose lands surround the community, the Sinixt, the Secwepemc, the Ktunaxa and the Syilx.

Shaw spoke of the importance of Indigenous traditions, and how when children were put in residential schools, the tie that was severed between them and the knowledge of the plants.

According to Shaw, the ‘wilderness’ that surrounds us is not as wild as some make it out to be. The land has been tended to and managed by Indigenous Peoples for generations.

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“It’s not a holiday, it’s an opportunity to observe and bear witness to the truth and reconciliation that our country needs to go through to heal,” said Michelle Cole of the Indigenous Friendship society when talking about The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Further into the forest, the Indigenous Friendship Society erected a display of orange shirts, representing the children who attended residential schools, as a place of contemplation, reflection, and healing.

“The land is medicine,” said Cole.

The logo on the orange shirts was created by a local Tsimshian artist Mya Manson and features a mother bear with two cubs, coloured in with a night view of Mt. Begbie, and the phrase ‘Every Child Matters’ underneath.

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