Walk for Good Life ‘incredible journey’

The 3rd Annual Walk for Good Life was an opportunity to walk your talk.
“It really made me realize that it doesn’t matter what I wasn’t doing or what I was missing; it’s what I’m doing and what I have,” said Larissa Desrosiers, youth coordinator for Oshki Aa-yaa’aag Mino Bimaadiziiwin (Good Life for Young People). “It’s really a chance to walk your talk ... to make a change and do all these great things.”
The seven-day, 500-kilometre walk provides an opportunity for Aboriginal youth to walk and learn together with their Elders and youth from other Treaty 3 communities in northwestern Ontario.
Learning about discipline, organization and patience was also a benefit of participating in the Walk for Good Life, said Desrosiers, who also completed the first two Walks for Good Life in 2009 and 2010 as a walker.
She and her fellow walkers have become like family, she said.
“For me, I call it my second family in the summer. We just become so close and since there were so many people this year, there were some rough patches, but that only made us a stronger family in the end,” she said.
Couchiching’s Justin Morrison also completed his third Walk for Good Life.
“It’s a great time,” he said. “I’ve done it for three years and each time it’s a new experience that brings me more self awareness and understanding.”
About 20 youth from Couchiching, Onigaming, Big Grassy, Rainy River First Nation, Sioux Lookout, Manitoba and Wisconsin took part in this year’s Walk for Good Life, as did Al Hunter, visionary and president of Oshki Aa-yaa’aag Mino Bimaadiziiwin.
“To see the difference in their faces from when they started to when they finished was a highlight for me,” said Hunter, author of Spirit Horses and former chief of Rainy River. “They are lighter and happier and full of love for each other and their culture – it’s an amazing experience.”
The youth were welcomed with food and lodgings at communities along their 500-kilometre walk, which began Aug. 1 in Eagle Lake and completed a full circle through Couchiching, Rainy River, Onigaming and Northwest Angle #37 before ending Aug. 8 back in Eagle Lake.
Guest speakers at each stop shared stories, cultural teachings and messages of hope, accomplishment and attaining dreams and goals with the youth.
Desrosiers, a singer/songwriter, and Jeremy Jordan, a hip hop artist known as Mack Sickz, performed during the journey to share their stories and dreams for a good life.
“Watching the youth support each other in walking their miles was great, but watching them support each other through the emotional ups and downs was inspiring,” said Teresa Hazel, CEO of Oshki Aa-yaa’aag Mino Bimaadiziiwin. “It was an incredible journey.”
Hazel saw a sense of empowerment, accomplishment and pride in the youth as they completed their journey.
“I saw pride on the faces and in the expressions of the youth coming in,” Hazel said. “They all had varying experiences during their time on the road, when they walked their mile alone on the highway. They saw and felt different things, which were good experiences for them.”
The youth participated in a circle with former Grand Council Treaty 3 ogichidaa Arnold Gardner at the completion of their journey, where he shared a song he was given about walking. Some of the youth also took part in a sweat performed by Robert Kelly.
A fourth Walk for Good Life will be held next year.