Group wants land for ceremonial use
Victoria Park was a traditional gathering, feasting and ceremonial space for the Chonnonton, the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe people who lived here before German settlers arrived
KITCHENER — Indigenous activists are camped out in Victoria Park and say they will not leave until they are given back land to use as a gathering and ceremonial space.
“We are exercising our treaty rights by being here,” said Amy Smoke, a local Indigenous activist and part of the Haudenosaunee nation.
“Having to pay for space on our own land is insulting. We want our land back. We want a ceremonial space here.”
In the past, local Indigenous groups were required to pay the city for permits to host cultural celebrations in the park. Last weekend the group decided to set up in the park to celebrate National Indigenous People’s Day without a permit. They have been there ever since.
A cluster of tents and a teepee can be seen in the back of Victoria Park, close to the playground. Smoke said the small group is following public health protocols.
Victoria Park was once a traditional gathering, feasting and ceremonial space for people of the Chonnonton, the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe people who lived on this land before German settlers arrived, Smoke explained.
Smoke wants to reclaim a permanent place for Indigenous peoples to use to practice their culture.
“If we had our land back it might bring down rates of suicide and incarceration (among Indigenous people),” Smoke said.
“We want land for infrastructure like a sweat lodge, a space for healing,” she said.
Last year, the City of Guelph built a sacred fire space in Guelph’s Royal City Park to honour the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who once lived there, and for local Indigenous communities to gather and celebrate.
Smoke said she would like to see the City of Kitchener do something similar.
She was hoping for dialogue with city officials to discuss ways in which the city can return land to Indigenous people for ceremonial use.
It wasn’t until Friday afternoon, six days after Smoke and others set up camp in the park, that Kitchener’s Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and Waterloo’s Mayor Dave Jaworksy visited the campsite to discuss Smoke’s demands.
In the week Smoke and fellow campers have been in the park, she said city of Kitchener bylaw officers came by to check on them twice. Waterloo Regional Police officers have also paid the camp a visit. She said the encounters were civil. No one has asked them to leave, Smoke added.
Friends and strangers have dropped off donations of tents, food and water. There have been celebrations with drum circles, ceremonies with Indigenous youth, and conversations with passersby who are curious about why they are there.
“It is problematic for me to educate white people when you can just Google it,” Smoke said. “Education is important,” she said, but she added that is painful for her to be the one to educate non-Indigenous individuals about the horrors of residential schools.
“This is our land back camp,” Smoke said. “We hope to stay here as long as we can.”
Kitchener is part of the Haldimand Tract, a portion of land that was promised to Haudenosaunee Six Nations in 1784. The area is identified as the length of the Grand River and spans ten kilometres on either side of the river’s banks. It was promised to the Haudenosaunee people for the loss of their traditional lands and also for their role as British allies.
Anam Latif is a Waterloo Regionbased reporter for the Record. Reach her via email: alatif@therecord.com