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United Nations World Water Day on March 22 gives us an opportunity to reflect on a critical resource many of us never think about – water. The theme this year is Groundwater – Making the Invisible Visible. Groundwater is underground and is therefore invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere.

Recently, the Faculty of Arts and Science established a partnership between Queen’s University and Kenjgewin, an Indigenous-led educational institute at M'Chigeeng First Nation, on Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island) to deliver three new online Indigenous Studies courses. The new courses focus on Indigenous perspectives and include Indigenous Theater and Performance, Indigenous Languages: Expressions of Peoplehood and, in a concert with World Water Day, Indigenous Perspectives on Water.

Indigenous Perspectives on Water explores ways in which global demands, climate change, and access issues with respect to water threaten the well-being of Indigenous communities. Topics include global water challenges and water challenges facing First Nations communities, Indigenous water rights, how climate change impacts the Ocean and First Nations, teachings from Elders, and how Indigenous understandings can be used as a basis for sustainable water practices.

The course is taught by , Plains Cree, Scottish-Metis and Bajan Indigenous grassroots academic. Beeds is a Mide-Kwe from Minweyweywiigaan Midewiwin Lodge out of Roseau River First Nations and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Reserve. Mentored under the late Grandmother Josephine-Ba Mandamin, she is also a Water Walker, walking more than 8,000 kms to raise awareness and consciousness about the water as a living entity. As they move in Ceremony for the Water, the Walkers educate others about the multiple layers of crisis facing the Water and the impact on Indigenous Nations. Her first walk, in 2011, was around Rice Lake, Ontario which led to her participation in lengthier journeys. Since then, she has walked around the Great Lakes more than once and conducted her first Water Walk for the Saskatchewan River out West.

“As I carry the water, I carry the knowledge of my ancestors, but Water Walking is more than a ceremony, it’s a call to action,” says Beeds. “We’ve neglected our human responsibilities so now we are sounding the alarm. I want to frame our commitment to water as a responsibility because the water is a living entity. We want people to understand and listen. Water Walking can open eyes, open hearts.”

Beeds says the partnership between Queen’s and Kenjgewin is of critical importance and could become a model for other institutions to follow. The partnership also allows her to connect with an entirely new group of people where she can bring her message.

“We now have the ability to expose a wide range of students to Indigenous thought, Indigenous pedagogies, and Indigenous intellectual legacies,” says Beeds. “As Indigenous scholars, we can share those educational bundles carried by our own respective Nations, working towards the truth part of reconciliation and, perhaps, igniting a change wherein we begin to shift the devastation and violence enacted on Indigenous people and our ancestral lands and waters.”

Within the course, Beeds says students will learn to look at water through an Indigenous lens, recognizing the water as living, while having the opportunity to have a very unique classroom experience,” says Beeds.

To learn more about World Water Day .