Fort William First Nation elder fundraising for community teepee

An elder from Fort William First Nation is fundraising to buy a teepee to serve as a permanent structure for sacred fires, ceremonies and healing.

Rita Fenton hashosted sacred fires and full-moon ceremonies at her homefor nearly two decades. During the pandemic, she says she has witnessed an alarming rise of attendees,showing the need for a permanent space.

"We are trying to purchase a teepee to havea place for people who are going through grief, loss, intergenerational trauma a place to come and sit and be in and talk about their experiences," she said.

The teepee would be a place for grassroots community gatherings and would shelter sacred fires in any weather, Fentonsaid, adding that it would also be a safe space, open to all, including members of the LGBTQ community.

Fenton isn't the only one looking forward to the new structure and working to create the space.

Ashley Moreau, a Mtis, queer activist is working alongside Fenton to make her dream becomea reality. Two-spirit folks aren't always welcomed at ceremonial or cultural events, Moreausaid, aresidual effect of the colonial rule imposed on the original peoples of Turtle Island.

"There's been a lot of need for community gatherings and ceremonies and there hasn't been a space for that, not a real inclusive place where everyone really honestly feels welcomed," Moreau added.

"Being out of the closet forthe majority of my life now, you are more often tolerated [but]not accepted.At Rita's place, I feel accepted, and there's a big difference between those two things."

Fenton, Moreau and others have been working hard to raise money to buy the structure. So far,they've raised almost half of the$10,000 they need.

Fentonsaysher desire to help others came fromher parents.

"I watched my parents growing up as a young child, I watched how they helped people. We had hardly anything to eat, but when people would come, my mom and dad would invite anybody over.'Come on in, have some tea, have some bannock and jam,' [they would say]," added Fenton.

Her parents would share what they had, even when they didn't have much themselves; a value Fenton says was instilled in herfrom a young age.

"Because I have gone back to school and earned my masters of social work. I'm a social worker, so I'm all about helping people and I guess as a social worker, the compassion and care and the love that I have for people is what keeps driving me," saidFenton.