[Text: Tomas Borsa. Photos: Jean-Philippe Marquis and Tomas Borsa.]
After spending two days in a seedy hotel that might easily have been a set double for The Shining, Jean-Philippe and I are about ready to get out of Burns Lake and carry on down the road to Smithers. Before leaving, we decide to pop in to the T’sil Kaz Koh reserve, for a quick rendezvous with our old friends Robert “Crazyhorse” Charlie and Ryan Tibbets, who we first met last summer. The graffiti leading into the reserve speaks for itself, and hints at the 96% unemployment and general air of social malaise that hangs over the tiny community. Few things have changed, and old wounds have yet to heal.
After a brief but powerful interview, Robert invites us to a sweat ceremony; without question, Smithers will have to wait until tomorrow. The invite comes as a particularly great honour as Sam Muskwa, an Anishinaabe medicine man, has travelled from Manitoba to oversee the ceremony. After a short but harrowing drive that tests the limits of our bottom-of-line all-season radials, the two of us arrive at Robert’s home on the other side of Burns Lake. The lodge sits immediately adjacent Robert’s home, and is made of canopy, blankets, and thick willow branches. Before entering, we place an offering of tobacco beside the fire, where stones are heated before being brought into the lodge. As per Sam’s instructions, we sit to the East.
Inside, there is total darkness, save for the sparkle and glow of the hotstones. Each time the lodge door is opened, a blast of cool air brings a moment of relief, and momentarily illuminates the surroundings. The smoke inside the lodge is still, in no hurry to escape. After a short prayer, Sam tosses tobacco on the rocks. Next comes water, which leads the rocks to hiss and spit a cloud of mist up into the canopy. Between songs, a cupful of water is passed around the circle, and each person drinks a little. After the ceremony, Robert lets slip that he had specifically asked Sam to perform this portion of the ceremony in order to “check us out” and ensure that we were friends, not foes, of the lodge. I take it we passed.
Near the end of the ceremony, a pipe is brought in and passed to Rob. It contains a mix of willow cambium and kinnikinnick, and between puffs, Robert tells us that “You are not here by chance – you’re here because the creator meant you to be here.” After all of the remaining hotstones are brought into the lodge, Sam singles us out. Referring to us as “the Enbridge boys”, he performs a prayer, and shares an Anishinaabe teaching. Sam tells us that the old ones used to speak of a giant white snake that would bring terror to the western tribes by spitting black poison over their lands. The snake was said to begin in the hills, travelling toward the ocean in order to quench its thirst; in the battle against the snake, Sam tells us, many humans and four-legged ones would die. And with that, the lodge door is opened and we are left in a stunned silence.