You may have noticed hundreds of children walking down Wellington Street and Indian Road in Sarnia on Tuesday morning.
Students, teachers and families from two elementary schools met to walk together to raise awareness about our important relationship with water.
Jesse Plain, the Ojibwe language teacher at Queen Elizabeth II, led their group on the north side of Wellington Street.
She selected a handful of students to carry noise makers, a copper pot, and a kettle with the liquid inside that makes life on Earth possible.
"Today we're hosting our first water walk," Plain told Sarnia News Today. "We've decided to join with Lansdowne [Public School]. We're recognizing the importance of the water, and how everyone deserves to have clean drinking water. So, we're singing for the water and putting all of our good energy into that water, to make sure that we raise that awareness that everyone has clean water."
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Plain said water walks began in 2003 when a group of people decided to walk along the Great Lakes to raise awareness about our relationship with the water.
"This is actually the first time we've done a water walk and we decided to do it together," Plain said. "So, [with the] Ojibway teacher at Lansdowne... we decided to work together and plan this walk together. So, we're singing alongside each other. We've taught our students the same teachings. Now, we're meeting together in the middle to have that collaboration."
"The song that we're singing is called the Wichita song. It's a water song. So, we're putting that good energy into the water," Plain added.
Sarnia police community officer Constable Tyler Callander escorted the groups, driving the service's Indigenous-themed cruiser, to ensure safety.
