Ma Mawi celebrates 'rebirth' of Lake Winnipeg Indigenous wellness centre after 2018 fire
Grey Buffalo Grandfather Wellness Lodge offers urban Indigenous Winnipeggers chance to connect to land
Margaret MacKinnon says the sudden destruction of an Indigenous cultural and healing centre on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg more than five years ago was a tragedy to the many people who used it.
But the former Windy Hill Learning and Wellness Centre, run by the Winnipeg non-profit Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, has now been rebuilt and renamed the Grey Buffalo Grandfather Wellness Lodge.
The new 36-bed lodge at Hillside Beach, about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, officially opened Friday.
The wellness centre had been operating for 11 years when it burned down after a 2018 electrical fire. The lakeside retreat offered a chance for Indigenous people from Winnipeg's inner city to connect to the land and traditional ceremonies.
"When we lost that space to the fire in 2018, we felt a deep collective loss," said MacKinnon, who works with Ma Mawi, as she read a message on behalf of the board of directors at an opening ceremony on Friday.
"But as our elders have taught us, from loss comes renewal."
Construction of the new lodge began in 2019, but MacKinnon said its "rebirth" faced challenges and delays in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new space includes forest trails, access to a sweat lodge, space for other ceremonies and a medicine garden.
"As we move forward, this lodge will serve as a sanctuary … to heal the physical, emotional, spiritual and socio-cultural parts of our beings," she said.
"This lodge is for the community. It is a space where youth will learn from elders, where families will come together to reconnect with the land, and where we will all find healing in the teachings of our ancestors."
As was the case with the former wellness centre, revenue from the site will continue to support Ma Mawi's mission to offer cultural and land-based activities for Winnipeg's urban Indigenous community, according to the centre's website.
Tammy Christensen, executive director of Ma Mawi, says the idea for the wellness centre was sparked during community consultations the organization held in 1997.
"It was during those consultations that the community began to tell us their dream for a place to reconnect to the land, to attend ceremonies and find healing," she said.
That dream was developed into a reality by a group of Indigenous youth, which led Ma Mawi to purchase a 30-hectare property in Hillside Beach, Christensen said.
"For some, it was their first time out of the city, their first time to connect to the land, and experience our culture and ceremony."
She said it was a shock when the building went up in flames, but "there was no question that we would rebuild."
Michael Robertson, an Indigenous architect with Winnipeg's Cibinel Architecture, was given a blanket at the ceremony in thanks for his design work on the new lodge.
The new building's design allows visitors to feel connected to the land around them, as the gathering space is surrounded by large windows that look out to nearby forest, said knowledge keeper Don Robinson, who has been involved with Ma Mawi for the last four decades.
"It still feels the same. It still feels good," he said.
Robinson says the new lodge honours the vision of the youth who came up with the idea for Windy Hill, who wanted a safe, alcohol-free space where Indigenous people could access land-based activities.
"The creation of this place is not a solitary effort, it's a collective effort, it's a historical effort," he said.
"It also embraces traditions from thousands of years ago."
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