Women’s Fire Program
A Live, In Person Program to Connect Indigenous Women With The Land.
A Letter To You –
Tawaw! I don’t know how you found your way here, but I’m glad you’re here. I want to share something with you.
Sitting with nohkom and mosom, and listening to how things were is one of my favourite things to do. Its fun to imagine life in a small community on the land more than 200 years ago. But, even more than that, it allows me to imagine it for us again in the future.
In our stories, we hear about how we were taught to live, and how those land based teachings, our cultural teachings, allowed us to thrive during hard times. And, they tell us that hard times will come again. We have been told that we need to live close to the land. And sadly, many of us simply can’t. Many of us now live in cities, work long hours, and have obligations within our communities that keep us one step removed from our mother, the land.
I live off grid, on the land, in Northern Alberta. There I have been able to maintain a life close to her. I went years without running water, electricity, and even lights in my home. I had to learn how to start and tend a fire, how to harvest what I needed from the land, what I could eat, what would heal me, and how to respect this land.
I know how important it is to have these skills. And, our elders have been clear, we will need to know these things again soon.
I have run the Metis Women’s Program for many years. Introducing women to our arts, language, history and some of our most basic teachings about protocol, relationship with the land, and identity as an Indigneous woman.
I have known for some time that I wished to take women a bit keeper into those cultural skills that are so critical. That they would need to know those things some day in the future. But its also that knowing these things empowers us TODAY.
It allows us to start a fire quickly and safely without matches or a lighter. That allows us to cook for our families in all settings. Learning to tend to the needs of our families or community while out on the land for shelter, warmth, food, medicine. These are things that we often don’t have a chance to learn.
This program is my invitation to learn these things. Its my invitation to come out to the land. To get to know our mother again. To learn to create and tend to “the camp”, all while learning to master our fire skills in traditional ways, hearing stories and singing together.
Whats Included in The Program?
- Monthly gatherings on the land, near Perryvale AB
- Learning to set up a mikiwahp, bush tent, and other shelters
- Learning to harvest and split wood for fire
- Learning how to collect and keep tinder for fire
- Learning to start fire with flint and steel
- Learning to start fire with a bow drill
- Making a bow drill for fire starting
- Learning how to cook on a fire
You will also have access to online content for you to learn from in between our time on the land together each month including;
- Instructional videos
- Articles
- Stories
- Recipes
To help deepen your learning.
Is this Program For You?
This program is for Indigenous Women who;
- You are Metis, First Nations, or Inuit.
- You are ready to learn, have access to a phone or computer and have access to the internet for access the online content.
- You are searching for a starting place for teachings and want to live closer to the land.
- You are financially able. I know this isn’t going to be the case for everyone. However, putting this program on has costs, and there will also be the cost to drive up to our camp once a month.
- You are able to commit to come to our live monthly gatherings on the land.
It’s Feeling Like A Fit
If what you’ve read so far feels like a good fit, I encourage you to join us. I KNOW there will be so much of value for you.
Registering
This program is accepting women into our next cohort starting April 2025. This group of women will be an amazing support as you all move through this program.
You can register at the bottom of this page.
Cost
The cost for this 12 month program is $600.00 CAD.
Course fees support our ongoing development of our culture camp near Athabasca, the costs of hosting the program, and to value the time of teachers.
Do you offer payment programs?
Yes! Email natalie@meetingmyancestors.com and ask to be set up with a payment program to access this program. Our payment programs allow you to divide the fee up into 2 or 4 payments. The first 1 or 2 payments are required before the first day of the program (depending on how many payments the fee is divided into).
Why aren’t your programs free?
All programs that are hosted by organizations have costs. Whether its the classroom or building used for teaching, materials, or having instructors costs covered. Online programs also have fees to pay in order to cover the websites, admin, and the online platform used for classes (these all have costs) and having instructors costs covered. This program has both in person and online costs to cover. Some organizations have funding to cover these costs. Some don’t. We actively seek funders to cover the costs of offering programs and to be able to offer grants. However, this isn’t currently available.