The Anishinabek Nation mourns the passing of our Grandmother, our Water Commissioner, our kind and gentle Water Protector, Biidaasige \u2013 Josephine Mandamin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a very sad day. We have lost a great advocate, teacher, and role model. She will be so deeply missed by all and will be fondly remembered for all of what she did to protect the water. Our prayers are with Josephine as she begins her journey home into the Spirit World and back to her ancestors,\u201d expressed Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Glen Hare. \u201cOur thoughts of comfort are with Josephine\u2019s family and community as they prepare for her journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Josephine Mandamin, originally from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, and affectionately called Grandmother Water Walker or Grandmother Josephine, dedicated her life to protecting the water and giving it a voice. She made it her life\u2019s mission to raise consciousness about the fragility of water and emphasize that water is precious, sacred, and one of the basic elements required for all life to exist. Water is life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough all of the years of Josephine\u2019s determination and dedication to raise awareness through her legendary Great Lakes Water Walks, it is my hope that the world hears her message \u2013 that water is life!\u201d stated Grand Council Chief Hare. \u201cOur world is a better place because of Josephine\u2019s efforts and those of us who will continue her work to protect our life-giving Nibi, not only to honour her legacy but to ensure water, the world over, is protected. What a remarkable Anishinaabkwe we have had the absolute pleasure of knowing and learning from.\u201dGrandmother Josephine founded Mother Earth Water Walks \u2013 an initiative that brings awareness to the risks and threats to the health and sustainability of our waterways. Through that initiative, she has walked the shorelines of the five Great Lakes as well as in all four directions of Turtle Island \u2013 bringing water from all oceans together. She has walked the equivalent of half of the earth\u2019s circumference while building awareness about pollution, laws, fracking, and the selling of water.<\/p>\n
As part of her advocacy role, she conducted community ceremonies where she would unite communities with water and empower them to start their own water walks to bring awareness to local lakes and watersheds. Grandmother Josephine has touched the lives of many and inspired a whole new generation of water walkers and warriors.<\/p>\n
In her capacity as the Chief Commissioner of the Anishinabek Nation Women\u2019s Water Commission, she was a predominant contributor and leader of the Great Lakes Guardians\u2019 Council, established under the Great Lakes Protection Act<\/em>. She was also previously on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in 2006.<\/p>\n She was also honoured with an Anishinabek Nation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and the Lieutenant Governor\u2019s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation in 2016 for Excellence in Conservation for Water Walks, and received distinctions and honours from the Assembly of First Nations National Chief Sean Atleo, Native Women\u2019s Association of Canada, Ontario Native Women\u2019s Association and from the Mayor of Duluth Minnesota.<\/p>\n The Anishinabek Nation is the political advocate for 40 member communities across Ontario, representing approximately 60,000 people. The Anishinabek Nation is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before<\/em>\u00a0European contact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Anishinabek Nation mourns the passing of our Grandmother, our Water Commissioner, our kind and gentle Water Protector, Biidaasige \u2013 Josephine Mandamin. \u201cIt is a very sad day. We have lost a great advocate, teacher, and role model. She will be so deeply missed by all and will be fondly remembered for all of what …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indigenous"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 06:27:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19499,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19498\/revisions\/19499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}