Mohawk Ben Powless Photos: Walkers arrive for Tarsands Healing Walk

Thank you Ben Powless, Mohawk, for sharing these photos!

Tarsands Healing Walk

Fort McMurray, Alberta July 5--6, 2013

http://www.healingwalk.org/
Yes! magazine: Clayton Thomas-Muller, Cree
 'Healing Walk through Tarsands Dystopia'

Schedule Saturday July 6, 2013

7:00 am - Wake up call
8:00 am - Load into buses and vans and rideshares and leave campsite
9:00 am - Arrive at Crane Lake
9:00 - 10:00 am - Pipe Ceremony
10 - 10:45 am- Media Panel at the Crane Lake Starting point

• Chief Allan Adam - Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
• Melina Laboucan - Massimo, Lubicon Nation and Greenpeace Canada
• Crystal Lameman - Beaver Lake Cree Nation and Sierra Prairie Chapter
• Naomi Klien -  Award Winning Journalist, syndicated columnist and author of 'The Shock Doctrine: This Rise of Disaster Capitalism'
• Bill McKibbon  -  350.org

11:00 am - Start the Healing Walk
The Healing Walk will be led by the elders and ceremony people.  There will be Prayers along the way.  Clayton Thomas Muller is the master of the ceremony for the walk and will explain to all the participants which prayers are occurring, why, and how you all can participate.
4:30 -5:00 pm - Healing Walk complete
5:00 - 6:00 pm- Load into buses, vans and rideshares and return back to the campsite.
6:00 - 8:00 pm-  Feast and closing ceremonies, speeches and prayers to leave home with hope and peace.

• Bill Erasmus - Regional Chief of the Dene of North West Territories.
• Drumming
• The 4th Annual Healing Walk near Fort McMurray Alberta
  A Different Way to Protect our Land, Air, Water and Climate from Tar Sands Expansion
  The tar sands are growing out of control, destroying the climate for all Canadians and poisoning the water of everyone living downstream.  
  On July 5th and 6th, people will come together from coast to coast to join First Nations and Metis in the Healing Walk, a gathering focused on healing the environment and the people who are suffering from tar sands expansion.
  Let’s call on the Alberta and Canadian governments to stop the reckless mismanagement of these resources. We need our governments to work with First Nations and bring people together to make wise choices about stewarding the land in ways that are sustainable and fair.
  Find out more.
  
  
  Indigenous tradition asserts that it is a human responsibility to protect land, air, and water for future generations. Many other Canadians agree. Over the past decade First Nations communities, non-native communities, scientists, politicians, and others are recognizing that the expansion of the tar sands is betraying this responsibility.
  No one feels this more then the people that have lived in the Athabasca River region for generations. They have watched their land get destroyed, they are forced to breathe dirty air, and in many communities they can no longer drink the water. The wildlife they have traditionally harvested are getting scarce, the fish they harvest have tumours, and the medicinal plants are disappearing along with the permanently changed landscape.
  There are protests against the tar sands taking place around the world. From the streets of London to the treetops in Texas, people are coming out to protest tar sands expansion. In British Columbia there is a wall of opposition blocking tar sands pipelines and oil tankers, in the United States records numbers of people are protesting the KXL pipeline, and there is growing opposition to stop Line 9 in Ontario, Quebec, and the New England states. These protests are helping. Thank you.
  On July 5 & 6 2013 there will be a different kind of event taking place in Northern Alberta in the heart of the destruction. The 4th Annual Healing Walk is an opportunity for people from all walks of life to join First Nations and Metis in a spiritual gathering that will focus on healing the land and the people who are suffering from tar sands expansion.
  This is a different kind of event. Everyone is asked to participate but please leave your protest signs and organizational banners at home. Come and see the impacts of the tar sands and be a part of the healing. First Nations leaders will conduct a traditional healing ceremony on the walk but everyone is encouraged to bring their own spirituality, their own customs, and their own beliefs.
  Hope to see you there on July 5 & 6.  Become part of the solution to protecting land, air, water, and our climate by getting involved in the Healing Walk.
  
• View the program
• Find out all the details about attending
• Register to attend
• Or, take action from home if you can't attend.

The Healing Walk is sponsored by the Keepers of the Athabasca. Keepers of the Athabasca is a collection of First Nations, Metis, Inuit, environmental groups, and watershed citizens working together for the protection of water, land and air, and thus for all living things today and tomorrow in the Athabasca River Watershed.