Talking sticks created during CAHEP workshop

One family created their own unique talking stick during an Oct. 20 Community Arts and Heritage Education Project talking/walking stick workshop in Thunder Bay.
“Everybody contributed to the family talking stick,” said Derek Kahni, CAHEP workshop presenter, “embellishing them with beads and wires and feathers and paints.”
More than 40 people attended the workshop, which provided participants with a selection of found sticks, from as far from Thunder Bay as Terrace Bay, to choose from to create their own talking/walking stick.
“It was interesting to see how people proceeded,” Kahni said. “They would look at the stick, because they were all natural and weathered, and within them you can see a lot of things, which are very personal.”
Traditionally used by First Nations people to provide everyone with the opportunity to participate in community discussions, the talking stick is usually passed around the circle during discussions, with only the person holding the stick being able to speak.
“I think it is a wonderful way to maintain respect in a discussion,” Kahni said. “We’re all excited when we’re in a group — everybody wants to say something. If everyone talks at once, obviously we can’t make sense but if everybody has a turn, then it is clear whoever is holding the stick is talking and then he passes it on.”
The talking/walking stick workshop also included a discussion of Jim Steven’s book Angelique Abandoned, which told the story of an Aboriginal woman’s survival over a frigid winter on Isle Royale.
Upcoming CAHEP workshops include a Nov. 3 medicine pouch creation workshop by Lac Seul artist and heritage programmer Susan Kakepetum and Dec. 1 and 8 song creation workshops by James Wilkinson.