Leech Lake Community hosts Unity Ride

By Molly Miron

Pioneer Editor

      CASS LAKE - To heal historical wounds and to foster leadership and pride, riders, walkers and runners are traveling across a third of the North American continent.

      Members of the Unity Ride & Run set out June 22 from Sioux Valley, Manitoba, Canada, heading for the International Indigenous Elders Summit Aug. 27 in Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. The caravan of Indians from various parts of Canada and the United States stopped Sunday at the Leech Lake Reservation and took a rest day Monday before setting out for the Whipholt campground on Tuesday.

      They committed to the journey to empower indigenous North Americans and build unity among the aboriginal nations. Both the ride and run and the elders summit are efforts to restore respect for the heritage their ancestors left them.

      Although the total number of participants fluctuates somewhat, with people joining for a few days as the horses and riders, runners, walkers and support vehicles pass through communities, Leech Lake hosted 36 people and 11 horses.

      In a goodhearted gesture, the group was housed Sunday at the Palace Hotel. The riders and runners camped on Monday at the Veterans Memorial and powwow grounds.

      The Leech Lake Band is in financial difficulties and cannot afford to give away the 15 rooms at $35 each, said Executive Director Sally Fineday Morrison. She said the band was seeking donations to cover the cost of the rooms and meals.

      Patricia Smith, acting on behalf of her husband, Mike Smith, a religious leader who volunteers with American Indian inmates in Minnesota prisons and jails, donated $350 in the name of the people her husband serves. The food for Monday’s meals were prepared and donated by community members.

      Terrylynn Brant said Sunday was a record 47-mile day. She said the youngest participant in the Unity Ride & Run is 11 and the oldest is 70.

      “This is our 12th camp,” Brant said.

      “I’ve been on this ride for seven years, since I was 13,” said Earl Harris Little Eagle Bear of Saskatchewan, a Cree. “I’m a runner and rider. My grandpa, Chief Ernest Sundown, asked me if I wanted to go.”

      Dolly Thomas and her partner, Doug Whitney, said they left Kamloops, British Columbia, on June 19 to join the group at Sioux Valley.

      “I started out riding, but I got hurt. Then I started walking and I got sunstroke, but I made 47 miles yesterday,” said Thomas as they rested at the Veterans Memorial Building Monday. “I kept looking over the top of the next hill.”

      She said they went on the ride two years ago when they stopped at four first nations communities.

      “One of the things that inspired me is there’s a lot of violence on our reserve among the youth population from 17-32,” said Thomas, a Scewepe. “I wanted to strengthen myself because we’ve been sober and free of drugs for 15 years.”

      She said she is one of 16 brothers and sisters who are products of the residential schools and disrupted families.

      “I wanted to really say prayers for my brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews,” she said.

      Carl Mazawascuna, a Dakota traveling on his horse, Washay, said he also changed his life and was given a pipe for a rider.

      “I saw what Indians are supposed to believe, not try to be a white man,” he said.

      This year, the group visited Turtle Mountain Fort Totten and Spirit Lake reservations in North Dakota. They reach White Earth on Friday and Leech Lake on Sunday. Their route also takes them though Fond du Lac Reservation near Cloquet and Bad River, La du Flambeau, Mole Lake and Menominee reservations in Wisconsin. They will pass through Michigan and on to Six Nations in southern Ontario.

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