Gathering on the swollen banks of the Red River in the heart of Winnipeg, we'll start our walk with an opening prayer led by Elder Florence Paynter and learn about the traditional significance of water for Indigenous peoples who have gathered alongside and cared for these waters for millennia up to the present a day.

 

We'll journey back in time with Dr. Bill Rannie, senior scholar in the historic hydrology of the eastern prairies to understand how the retreat of the glaciers and formation of Lake Agassiz shaped the landscape. We'll visit what remains of Brown's Creek, a hidden waterway that still flows under the Exchange and talk about how colonization and urbanization have radically altered the local environment.

 

The impulse to control and tame the waters of this land by early settlers resulted in massive building projects to dredge and drain the prairie, and later, to build an aqueduct to serve the growing city. We'll hear from historian Adele Perry about the history of the Shoal Lake Aqueduct, and from filmmaker, researcher and activist Angelina McLeod about the devastating impacts this aqueduct has had on the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation community. Bringing our attention back to the River, we'll talk with the City's head Naturalist Rodney Penner to explore how a urban development has changed Winnipeg's riverbanks, making the city more vulnerable to flooding and impacting habitat for plant and wildlife. We'll hear from 

 

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