The nature of healing
Always on the move, Cathy Walker provides Indigenous medicine and sustenance to people in need. Ziya Jones hears her story
Whenever someone needs help in a crisis, Cathy Walker meets them where they are: drop-in centre, park, street corner, even at her doorstep at 3 a.m. After being involved with Indigenous community-building, knowledge-sharing, and movement-organizing for more than a decade, Walker knows — you’ve got to be flexible.
A lifelong Torontonian, Walker has always resided in low-income neighbourhoods. Growing up, she saw members of her family dealing with addiction, poverty and mental-health issues. As an adult, seeing neighbours grappling with similar experiences, she was determined to help. Walker, who recently completed her first year as a community health worker at Anishinaabe Health Toronto and George Brown College, has launched and contributed to many grassroots projects over the years. Most recently, she’s been focused on the Giwaabamin street patrol, an initiative that brings a blend of western and traditional Indigenous medicine to anyone who needs it.
The Giwaabamin street patrol has its roots in a project Walker started about a decade ago, after she noticed a lack of Indigenous presence in many organizations serving houseless Torontonians. Along with a couple of friends, Walker began to distribute food and essentials to folks on the street. The patrol eventually expanded to include the Allan Gardens Food and Clothing Share, which takes place every Sunday. There, volunteers distribute meals, clothing and other items to those in need.
Walker has studied herbalism for decades, but after beginning her formal training, she launched Giwaabamin (“‘I see you’ in the Anishinaabe language,” she says). About three times a week, Walker offers free treatments at tent encampments as well as community organizations such as harm-reduction groups. She also wanders neighbourhoods, keeping an eye out for anyone who may require support. All of Walker’s supplies are either donated or paid for out of pocket. Sometimes she treats chronic ailments like arthritis and asthma or helps people cope with detoxing from substance use. Other times, she provides frontline care, treating stab wounds and other serious injuries for clients who feel unable to use emergency services.
In cases where professional medical intervention is necessary, Walker accompanies patients to the hospital and advocates for them as needed. Street-involved people and people of colour often “get seen as less than, as not deserving of healthcare,” Walker says. “We always talk about this universal health-care system, but in actuality it’s not accessible to everyone.”
While Walker will treat and support anyone, she focuses on providing culturally competent care for Indigenous folks. Her harmreduction approach includes traditional food (such as hunted meat, like deer), smudging, teas and herbal medicine. This is important, she says, since the medical system wasn’t built to include these traditional remedies. “I want to give people the ability to choose what their health care looks like,” says Walker, who adds that while her work can be challenging, it’s also a source of sustaining joy. “The people are beautiful. When you don’t have anything, you become the most giving, the most generous. The people I work with can have everything working against them and they will still find a reason to laugh.”
Walker recently began fundraising to cover the cost of her training. She hopes to secure grant money as well, which would be put toward sustaining the street patrol and treating even more people. The pandemic has left more Torontonians in need of urgent care than ever, Walker says. “It’s not the people that are broken — it’s a system that’s broken. People are just victims of a broken system,” she says. “Everyone should be raised up. Nobody should ever be turned away.”
The people are beautiful. When you don’t have anything, you become the most giving, the most generous.
CATHY WALKER