Biinaagami Project

Manitoulin First Nations leaders prominent in 'Biinaagami' Great Lakes protection project

Manitoulin First Nations leaders prominent in 'Biinaagami' Great Lakes protection project

We have a great deal to lose if we don’t acknowledge our shared responsibility to protect and restore the Great Lakes. That’s the underlying premise of Biinaagami, a multi-year collaborative project undertaken by Canadian Geographic and Swim Drink Fish. The project was launched September 26 in Niagara on the Lake with a number of First Nations leaders from Manitoulin Island as key participants.

‘Without water, none of us would be here’: Great Lakes protection project kicks off in Niagara-on-the-Lake

‘Without water, none of us would be here’: Great Lakes protection project kicks off in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Serendipity seemed to strike the participants in an Indigenous water ceremony in Niagara-on-the-Lake, held by the Niagara River — the ceremony kicking off a project that's all about just how important water is for us all. As participants raised their voices in song, rain starting falling on them outside the Fort George National Historic Site’s navy hall — which did not go uncommented on by the ceremony’s leader, Linda Manitowabi of Wiikwemkoong First Nation.