The cure Toronto’s CAMH to host a traditional sweat lodge,

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health the first hospital in Ontario to host traditional First Nations sacred garden

As the drums beat, and the smell of burning sage wafted through the air, Diane Longboat looked on with pride.

Longboat watched as visitors entered the grounds of the newest addition to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health — a sweat lodge. It was a project that was years in the making.

The sweat lodge is a “higher level of healing” for First Nations patients, said Longboat, a Six Nations Mohawk, and elder with CAMH’s Aboriginal Services.

With the opening of the sweat lodge, a sacred fire and medicine garden, CAMH becomes the first hospital in Ontario to host a fully operational sweat lodge. It will provide the setting for sweat ceremonies, a First Nations cleansing practice.

Led by an elder, heated rocks — called grandmothers and grandmothers — are selected and placed within the lodge. The traditional ceremony is designed to help purge body and mind of past abuse.

This practice, Longboat said, is essential on the path to recovery.

The construction of the sweat lodge is the most recent in a series of gradual steps aimed at expanding CAMH’s capacity to address the needs of First Nations patients, beginning with the creation of the hospital’s Aboriginal Services department in 2000.

It was a “long, long journey” to arrive at Thursday’s ceremony and the opening of the sweat lodge, said Dr. Renee Linklater, CAMH’s director of Aboriginal Engagement and Outreach.

The sweat lodge, in conjunction with a Sacred Fire and medicine garden, marks a significant step forward in providing “culturally relevant care” to patients, said Linklater, a member of the Rainy River First Nations.

The hospital’s improvement in traditional healing methods holds personal significance for Kayla Sutherland, a member of Spiritwind, a women’s hand drum group that played at the sweat lodge opening.

Sutherland told the Star that she was supposed to seek treatment at CAMH in 2009 but was counselled against admission to the hospital by members of her Mushkegowuk Cree community. Some of those community members “feared for her safety” within the program, citing concerns of cultural insensitivity toward First Nations patients.

Now Sutherland sees the sweat lodge as an example of positive change.

As reported by the Star’s Joe Fiorito in 2013, elder Vern Harper, who assisted CAMH clients with addiction treatments, was effectively prevented from inviting patients to his sweat lodge during their treatments.

Nonetheless, Harper’s efforts were noted and praised by Linklater, who described Harper as instrumental in the ultimate creation of the sweat lodge.

In a speech at the sweat lodge opening, CAMH president Catherine Zahn, noted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had called for the Canadian health-care system to acknowledge the value of First Nations healing practices.

“We have responded to this call, and taken a step forward to fulfil that promise,” Zahn said.