Manitoulin Island & Water Protectors
Manitoulin Island in northern Lake Huron is the largest freshwater island in the world at 2,766 square feet. It is large enough to have over 100 freshwater lakes and multiple rivers itself.
Manitoulin Island is also the home of an incredible young activist named Autumn Peltier. I was introduced to Autumn in the beautiful picture book Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior, written by Carole Lindstrom with illustrations by Bridget George.
Autumn is Anishinaabe and an Indigenous Water Protector from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island. The rapid evolution of her activism is nothing short of remarkable and Autumn has been nominated several times for the International Children’s Peace Prize, including being a finalist in 2022.
2012 at eight years old: Autumn learned that many First Nations in Ontario often live on short or long-term boil-water advisories and began speaking out about this in her own community.
2016 at 12 years old: At the Assembly of First Nations in front of thousands of people, Autumn pointedly asked questions of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about water protection and told him he is not doing enough on the issue.
2018: Autumn addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on the topic of clean water access.
2019, at the age of 14: Autumn was appointed Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinaabek Nation. She meets with leaders of Tribal Nations and speaks nationally and internationally about Indigenous and water rights. Her voice and messages are often directly about the waters that flow in and out of the Great Lakes.
Autumn is the great-niece of the late Josephine Mandamin, an internationally recognized water and Indigenous rights activity. She was widely acknowledged as the leader of the Water Walk movement. Josephine co-founded the Mother Earth Water Walkers in 2003. The Mother Earth Water Walkers is comprised of women from different clans of the Anishinaabe who work to bring attention to water crises in their own communities and others around the world. They do this by walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes. The first Water Walk was in 2003 when the group walked 2,726 miles around Lake Superior. They carried a copper pail filled with lake water. Over the next 14 years, there were thirteen Water Walks, covering a distance of over 15,000 miles to bring attention to the issue of clean water.
If one thing stands out in Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior, it is the voice of women and girls. To the Anishinaabe, speaking for the water is a matriarchal act. There is something that seems so right and also deeply ironic about this. Around the globe, it is often women and girls who bear the burden of accessing clean water. In communities without easy access, women and girls may literally spend their days walking miles to and from sources of water for drinking, cooking and sanitation needs. Here’s hoping that Autumn and other young climate and environmental activists inspire all sorts of people from across the globe to take action.
In our culture, we look at water as a living being, and we’re taught to treat it with the same respect we would show another human. Water is the lifeblood of Mother Earth. It gives all life, and there is no life without it. Autumn Peltier, Foreword to Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior
