It’s time we come together’: Indigenous site beside Waterloo Region museum to help educate, heal – Waterloo Chronicle
December 5, 2022
Founder wants to foster allyship with second location, more to come
In a forested area next to Doon Heritage Village, there’s now a teepee and tents, with a sacred spot set out for sweat lodge ceremonies.
“This is going to be a dome of saplings. Our Sacred Fire is going to go there,” said Clarence Cachagee, founder of the Crow Shield Lodge, an Indigenous education and healing centre based in Waterloo Region.
“It gets very hot,” he said.
“I’ve been in lodges where people are praying. I’ve been in lodges where people are singing. I’ve been in lodges where people are screaming. I’ve been in lodges where people are getting sick. Because that’s what’s supposed to happen.
“If we have something very deep, deep down inside of us and we can’t get rid of it because it’s too painful, then we need to go back to the land, go back to the ceremonies, get realigned.”
