Men learn true meaning of the warrior way

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The Native Wellness Institute recently held a Native men's conference entitled, "Warrior Men are Responsible Men." Men came from all over Turtle Island to celebrate the Warrior Journey in London from Aug. 13 to 15.

More than a hundred men attended the conference, in addition to the seven presenters who came from Arizona, Saskatchewan, Vancouver, Wimindji, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and northern Quebec. There were three days of workshops, circles, sweat lodges, barbecues, and visits to the nearby Oneida Settlement and the Chippewas of the Thames.

The director of the Wellness Institute, Billy Rogers (Kiowa Nation) said, "We're here talking about personal healing, personal wellness, looking at our own issues, looking at how we can become better role models and how we can use our own culture and spirituality to bring some sense of wholeness to ourselves."

Rogers later defined what a "warrior" means to him.

"Warrior," he said, "brings to mind special characteristics, not only for men but also for women, including bravery, generosity, leadership, peacemaking and spirituality. All the Indigenous tribes of North America hold these values of the warrior spirit. We need to return to those basic values that define the culture, or help define a man or woman. We still have that warrior spirit, meaning that we're going to go out and fight, we're going to be committed, we're going to be generous with ourselves, we're going to be respectful, and we're gong to make peace when needed - not against each other, not necessarily against white people, but against whatever and whoever is trying to oppress us, to take away our health, to break the circle, to break the hoop.

"That could be a variety of things: diabetes, alcohol, domestic violence, poor parenting habits, sexual abuse. We're going to move to replace whatever we're trying to fight with a certain kind of mentality, an approach, a spirit that will embody and make our ancestors proud, just as they would have done 350 to 400 years ago."

Rogers, along with Dwayne Chocan (Cree Nation) and Dallas Guss (Salish Nation) presented the opening session entitled, "The Seven Stones of Being A Man."

The values and emotions of the seven stones are respect, responsibility, relations, resolve, rebuild, reclaim, and reverence, delegates heard. Chocan, from Onion Lake, Sask., says a man is one who is able to "feel the healing, hear the ceremonies, speak the truth, heal the wounds and trauma, and to forgive ourselves, the Creator and one's family." These stones will help men understand themselves and begin a new journey towards wholeness.

The next workshops dealt with how to be a good father and have healthy relationships. Gordon James (Skokomish Nation) from Washington State said, "Too often, we're not paying conscious attention to the choices that we're making as fathers - to the actions that we're taking as fathers." As a result, sometimes we realize our mistakes too late. He suggests we ask ourselves, "Are we doing the best that we can within ourselves to be the best fathers we can be, or are we just acting out of those habits?"

Harold Osife (Pima Nation) from Gila River said he attended the workshop because he wants "to learn how to be a better father" to his seven-year-old son.

Patrick Trujillo (Cochiti Pueblo Nation) presented on "Developing A Warrior Spirit." He said, "A true warrior is open to new knowledge. He's always learning." He urged men "to connect to that spirit within you, because this is what's been given to you by the Creator to live that good way of life, to be that true man for your family, for your community, to walk that good road . . . to know that, as a man, I don't have to take advantage of any woman . . . that's how we learn to protect our people."

Peter Beaucage (Ojibway Nation) offered that, "in our community we are forming an Ogitchidaw Society which is a society that is an organization like a warrior society. But we aren't really warriors. The term meanssomeone who is ready to take on responsibilities."

On the final day, Mickey DeCarlo (Ojibway Nation) and Terry Rogers (Ojibway Nation) presented a workshop on domestic violence and the effects of colonization, which have contributed to the distortion of traditional roles and practices of First Nations communities and families. They said their work is to end violence against women and recreate peaceful, harmonious communities based on reclaiming their traditional values, belief systems, and life ways. The traditional life reflects compassion, respect, generosity, sharing, humility, industriousness, courage, love and being spiritually centered in our behavior and relationship with all things.

Robert Nappetung, who is a Yellowquill Cree from Saskachewan, learned that "we can be good people to ourselves, to our community, to our loved ones and to all people."

Robert "Pete" DeShane, who is originally from Saskatchewan, said he learned "there's things I need to work on . . . This is my first healing and wellness workshop, so I will take what I have learned to help my community."

Rogers has been providing training in Native communities for the last l9 years. He said, "For us to come together as men in this way, sharing, sometimes crying, laughing together, taking risks, and then hearing the men talking about, 'I'm going to call my wife; I'm going to really look at that; I'm going to tell my children that I love them.' That's all we can do. If I can do that little bitty part, and you do your little bitty part, then we begin to effect change, and we begin to see something positive happen for our people."

Harvey Thunderchild (Plains Cree Nation) has been sober for l9 years and works as the health director on the Thunderchild reserve in Saskatchewan. He has been rebuilding his life with the help of his wife, who attended the conference with him. He said this conference will help him on his wellness journey.

The Native Wellness Institute is based in Norman, Okla. It promtes emotional, physical, mental and spiritual wellness. The Canadian branch is run by Georgina Cowie (Ojibway) of the Hiawatha First Nation. The institute holds conferences to address issues such as spirituality, youth, diabetes, men's and women's issues, and family healing and wellness lifestyles. Their Web site is www.nativewellness.com.