Each week, I share my thoughts on a significant event or aspect of my decades-long work in the arts, culture, and heritage. Thank you to Miranda Jimmy for the deep conversation, gift of learning this truth, and permission to explore this further.
In April, I stood on the scarred hillsides of Cassino, Italy, where my grandfather once fought during World War II. I learned that, 80 years later, landmines still rise from the soil. The trauma lives on in the ground itself.
What I didn’t know—until yesterday—is that the same is true here.
In 2014, the Enoch Cree Nation was forced to close their golf course after an employee uncovered an unexploded ordnance. It was not an isolated incident. From 1939 to 1945, the Government of Canada and the Royal Canadian Air Force used the heart of Enoch as a bombing range. Napalm, gas-jelly bombs, chemical weapons demonstrations. No consultation. No consent. No acknowledgment for 70 years.
In The Crying Fields, a short film by Hayley Morin, Past Chief Billy Morin speaks plainly: “They bombed the heart of our Nation.”
The lake, now Yekau Lake, was sacred ground. A place of gathering, healing, and ceremony. Elders had long said they could not safely pick medicine near it. They were right. But they were ignored.
This isn’t just a story of historic harm. It’s a story of willful erasure.
Of documents destroyed.
Of people silenced.
Of decisions made with “the stroke of a pen,” as Past Chief Morin put it.
And yet, despite all this, the Enoch community donated their lease payment back to the war effort.
In 2019, a $91M settlement was reached. But the question lingers:
“How large is fair and reasonable?”
Because no dollar figure can replace a spiritual centre. No cheque can bring back a lake’s name or meaning.
We cannot right all the historical wrongs. But we can name them.
We can amplify the knowing that communities have always carried.
We must share the truth in the quiet weeks when no one is watching.
I invite you to watch The Crying Fields → https://lnkd.in/gb9AyceX
And to read more: https://lnkd.in/g43f5Xig
Because all of us—every single one of us—are Treaty people.
Enoch Cree Nation reaches $91M settlement with Canada over land
Disclaimer: Featured image generated through WordPress AI tools. EMC3 is committed to the responsible use of AI as a tool and not a replacement for the work of artists and creatives.
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