Warrior Lawyer Profile: Josephine Mandamin

The Cost of Water  

In 2000, Grand Chief Eddie Benton-Banaise shared a prophecy at the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge in the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. His prophecy was that an ounce of water will cost as much as an ounce of gold by 2030 if we continue with our negligence. Afterwards, the Grand Chief asked the crowd what they were going to do about it. Josephine Mandamin was one of the people in the crowd listening to the Grand Chief that day.  

Josephine Mandamin, or Biidaasige-ba ("The one who comes with the light"), was from Wikwemikong Unceded Territory situated on Manitoulin Island in the Great Lake Huron. After hearing the Grand Chief speak, Josephine could not stop thinking about the prophecy and its wording: “if we continue with our negligence.” The prophecy was clear that we are acting negligently by not adequately taking care of the water. However, she recognized that the prophecy was not inevitable if we take action to protect the water now. In 2003, she decided to walk the talk. Josephine co-founded Mother Earth Water Walk alongside other Anishinaabe women, rather than sitting idle and allowing the prophecy to come true.  

The Water Walk is a journey around the perimeter of a different Great Lake each spring. The walks have been held annually since the very first walk around Lake Superior in 2003. Through the Water Walk, Josephine and other Anishinaabe women sought to raise awareness about the severe water pollution in the Great Lakes, the importance of water, and the need to protect it. Josephine’s last walk was in 2017 before she passed away two years later. However, the Water Walks have continued since then. Josephine is estimated to have walked more than 23,000 km over the years that she participated in the Water Walks to raise awareness.

Water Responsibilities

As an Anishinaabe woman, Josephine recognized the need for women to lead in ensuring that we are no longer acting negligently to water. According to her, Anishinaabe water keepers have always been women because they are life givers and as such share a connection with Mother Earth – another life giver. Although women hold the primary responsibility, the responsibility is not theirs to bear alone. There is also a responsibility for the men as caretakers to walk with women. These responsibilities are not optional. Instead, it is part of a broader legal relationship between the Anishinabek and water under Anishinaabe water law.

In carrying out these responsibilities, Josephine and other water walkers carry a copper pail of water and an eagle staff during the Water Walk. The pail is made from copper due to its healing and sacred properties, which allows the water in the pail to become clean again. While travelling along the lakeshores, the water walkers sing water songs, pray for the water and stop to offer tobacco. Aside from raising awareness, these Water Walks follow ceremonial protocols and laws to honour the water, as well as our relations with it.

In 2007, former Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief John Beaucage appointed the Anishinabek Women’s Water Commission, which has the mandate to provide leadership and guidance on water and Great Lakes management issues. The Commission consists of a Chief Commissioner and four Commissioners who are representatives from various communities within the Anishinabek Nation. It consists only of Anishinabek women in recognition of the roles of women with respect to water. Josephine was the first Chief Water Commissioner and served under the position until her death, highlighting again how she stepped forward to act on these legal responsibilities.  

Legacies of Our Actions 

When Josephine talked about the water, she does not just talk about its pollution. She talked about the water’s qualities and personality traits. She talked about what mood the water is in. She talked about how the water behaves and reacts. For example, Josephine thought of Lake Superior as a woman – strong, powerful, and very kind but capable of much damage when threatened. She saw water as something sacred and alive to which we must listen and give a voice. 

Josephine thinks about the next generations (Anishinaabe and not) when hearing that water could cost as much as gold. She asks: what will your children and grandchildren say about what their grandparents did to protect the waters? She asks this question because future generations are impacted by our current negligence in our treatment of water. If we fail to act, we may see the impacts within our lifetimes, but it is not only our lifetimes that are impacted. We must think ahead for the next generations.  

Josephine Mandamin passed away on February 22, 2019, at the age of 77. Autumn Peltier, Josephine’s grand-niece, has taken on the role of the new Chief Water Commissioner since 2019. Autumn was only 14 at the time, but she has continued to bring national and global attention to the need to protect water and its sacred nature. According to Autumn, her great-aunt taught her about the sacredness of water and our relations with it, her role as a woman, and the need to always advocate for yourself and what you believe in.  

Autumn is not alone with respect to these teachings. Josephine may not have been a formally trained lawyer, but she was an Anishinaabe knowledge holder and well versed in Anishinaabe water law. She was a tireless advocate as a water walker and defender. In her advocacy, she was able to share these teachings with other Anishinaabe people and has inspired many similar water walks in other communities. She has acted as a warrior lawyer would by deeply understanding and acting upon the ongoing negligence in our legal relationships with water, the harms it was suffering, and the requirement to protect the water for ourselves, as well as future generations. She provided leadership and guidance in how to repair the harms we are causing to water as a sacred and living being.