There is a hill called Cedar Hill. It once was covered with cedars.
There was a lake at the junction of Keating and Stella crossroads. John told his mother's remembrances of when she was a girl, and the abundance of cranberries in the bog around the lake. So many ducks would migrate through there that the sky would darken when they flew on.There were many kinds of life there including plants used for medicinal purposes.
In the land above the bog, people grew potatoes for themselves in the nearby village. Water from streams was unpolluted.
They believed that these places of clean and nourishing water were sacred and that water spirits lived there and were to be respected.
They saw their 'ancestor' as "Rain" and those who were deemed 'relatives of the deep' were responsible to look after all their relatives, to the seventh generation.
The children were taught to respect water, as well as all who rely on it: the salmon, trees, animals, etc., and they could 'speak' with people.
The white settlers drained the land.
John's parents did not teach their children their language because of their residential school experience. However, John felt he must learn his mother tongue and the values of his culture. He is now teaching many children, with the inclusion of the value of fresh water as a way to open our communication with the 'Spirit'.
To illustrate this he played his drum and sang the song he teaches the children.
'Our water/salmon/home/rain/land/ -everything and everyone is sacred.
He helps the children plant trees, make inventories and partake in a summer program as 'stream keepers'.
He ended by saying: "This is a beautiful place. Polluting the waters makes no sense."

6. Darlene Sanderson: doctoral thesis based on the sacredness of water.

Her father is Russian and her mother, Cree. As a Cree woman she learned her special responsibility for water.
Continuing John's theme that all are connected and sacred, Darlene added that water is cleansing and has cleansing power.
Water is connected to the identity of aboriginal peoples -- (and of non-aboriginal. What are we, without water?)
Thus it is essential that we purify polluted water. And that we get to the root of how water is being affected by the changing climate of the planet; as well as educating ourselves and our children on the basis of our cultural values. We must continually reject the values of individualism, and develop and maintain the collective values of sharing, love, respect, honesty and caring.
By acknowledging the sacredness of water and its place as the connector of all life, it is our responsibility to care for it as we care for life.
As we went around our large circle naming our concerns about water, one person asked what kind of sense it made to change a magnificant cave on Bear Mountain from a crystal clear, pure water spring into a vast muddy hole in the name of 'development'?