Pakane

THE WHO:

My name is Pakane (Grasshopper) or Steven Baranyai and I am an Anishinabe man, martin clan of Ojibwe and Hungarian decent from my Mother and Father respectively. I was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie and spent much time growing up in my Mother’s community called Ganaabaajing or Serpent River First Nation, along the North shore of Lake Huron. Mark Anderson is the stepfather of my partner, Shannon Van Every, Cayuga/Tuscarora from Six Nations. It was the Grandfather Father Drum that I was walking with at the time and some brothers from our community that led these KI representatives into Queens Park for this press conference back in June of 2006. This walk had inspired me so much that I gifted Mark this Grandfather Drum and he brought Kiijaadjiwan back to his community. We also attended the musical celebration in Six Nations that summer and continued generating awareness about the situation. It was shortly after this time when the moratorium ruling was put in place, but it did not seem that much awareness had been generated in the mainstream population. This is something our entire human family needs to be aware of. I feel we can now stand strong together and do something about it for our future generations who will inherit what we leave for them. Our children can only keep growing up with what they know from what we teach and what they see. Lets show our children that LOVE is the answer!

THE WHAT: I awoke from a dream shortly after the jail sentence came down and in the twenty minutes of dreaming, six weeks of time were shown to me. I witnessed myself walking up to KI to bring this awareness and a strong message of LOVE to this entire situation; to all our relations. I believe in the power of the collective will of our Human Family. I believe if we use any other means we will all lose, even those without faces; the unborn. I believe we are all made of this energy we call LOVE. I believe that these individuals, investors, government and legal agents making these decisions, causing this adversity, can only do so due to the lack of this LOVE. I was told in my dream by a voice that everyone has already been whispered too, all I need to do is begin planning this walk, talking about it, walking it. All I need t ask for is help in communicating this message. I ask you who are reading this for this help in communication. The voice said this would awaken the inner voice in those around you and you will be provided with everything you need to complete this journey. I say Chi Miigwetch in advance for this assistance, the rest is up to you to look inside and do what your heart is telling you. Make it my honour to walk your prayers to KI and let me carry them in the form of a tobacco tie to send to the Creator at the sacred fire when I arrive. Send your prayers through song, fasting, sweat ceremony, thoughts and send only positive thoughts of love and compassion to ALL involved, especially the perpetuators of these adverse actions; they need to be brought closest to the fire. Our collective thoughts can do anything and have a righteous power beyond our belief. We can clean polluted water together, polluted lands, and begin to help Mother Earth heal so our future generations have a place better than we received it. Lets begin and show our children it is time.

THE WHERE: I have now witnessed this dream coming true as I have began the planning and the talking. I will begin the walking Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 with a sunrise ceremony at the Niagara Regional Native Centre at 382 Airport Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. We will meet the sun at 6:00am. A detailed estimate of the scheduled walk is included in this package to share. Join me anywhere, anytime and bring your Loving energy with you. A moment of prayer will take place at the waters in Port Dalhousie. I was asked to do this by our Mother Earth Water Walker, Josephine Mandamin, who will be walking around the lower part of Lake Michigan by then. She asked for tobacco to be placed in the waters that will connect us during our walk together and that she will sing and pray for all involved as well. There will also be a quiet moment of prayer and song at Queens Park on Sunday, May 4th, at approximately 6:00pm and another moment of prayer at Platinex Inc. by approximately 1:00pm on Monday, May 5th. The prayer will consist of taking a pinch of soil from KI and placing a tiny pinch of tobacco with it onto Mother Earth in front of these two corporate buildings. Love is the message within the prayer, for it is the absence of love in these individuals that allow for this greed and choices to take place. The walk will then continue on to Thunder Bay where the same moment of prayer and song with the same message will take place at the Provincial Superior Court House, again love is the focus of the prayer. There is no need or desire to speak to or address anyone at these three prayer locations; silence followed by an honour song is all that is needed. Our thoughts are energy in motion outside the body and CAN move mountains, especially with a collective focus. I ask you to do what you already know in your heart to do. You know THE WHEN and THE HOW, now let’s Walk in our Elders Footprints for Mother Earth and our Future Generations together.

Chi Miigwetch,

Pakane