Tending the Fire leadership program makes history

Page 10

Bob Antone, executive director of the KiiKeeWaNiiKaan Southwest Regional Healing Lodge on the Munsee Delaware Nation, had a dream about a circle of men talking about the true meaning of a First Nation man. Seven years later, the dream was fullfilled, as KiiKeeWaNiiKaan graduated the first class of Indigenous community workers from its Tending the Fire leadership program. That was on March 28, 2002.

Tending the Fire is an accredited diploma program offered by the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) through the auspices of Loyalist College of Belleville. Jim Dumont and Bob Antone, executive director of the lodge, were two of the course instructors.

Jim Dumont, a professor at Laurentian University, explained "this program is unique because these are men who have shown that they have the courage to address all of those things within themselves and to enter onto the path of healing as well as the path of learning." He explained that the program was developed "from our own traditions, culture and spirituality-the means by which we educate our own people to create effective change."

Over a two-year period, a group of 26 men, of whom 17 graduated, met with resource professionals for one week every two months. Course requirements included making fire using flint; fashioning a bow and arrow using traditional Indigenous knowledge systems; and healing work, some of which involving behavioral modification. Traditional ceremonies such as the sweat lodge were also part of the culture-based curriculum.

The men came from communities all over Ontario. Glen McDougall-Lahwe'nu:nihe', from the nearby Oneida settlement, said, "As a group of 26 men, we had 25 experiences to share from, to learn from. The best moments were when we sat around the fire, in a big circle, talking as we used to years ago. We had to look at what caused us to act in certain ways."

A revelation for all the men was how they treated women. "It was not very nice."

The sessions produced lots of tears and emotional release, as the room full of men began to release their hurt and pain from their negative life experiences. This was transformational because, "in the sessions to follow we looked at ourselves and changed from what we were to what we can be. I learned from this healing that when you release something bad, take the time right away to fill the space with something good, because that's the way you're going to rebuild your life," Lahwe'nu:nihe' said.

Hearing the creation stories helped them to reclaim their own spirituality and identity. Jim Dumont's Ojibwe creation story "touched us in a way I can't describe," he said.

"For example, I was sitting in the lobby reading a book, when I thought about how those words are written down, but without feeling or spirit.

"When we as Onkwehonwe or Anishinabe sit down to talk, we share the spirit in the words that come out through us and touch us.

"That's the power of our ways, because we were an oral society, we had nothing written down."