2 Teachings of the Water

Water is essential for all life on Earth. Everybody comes from water. The human body alone is composed of around 60% water. ^[1] As Reneé Mazinegiizhigookwe Bédard, member of the Dokis First Nation and an assistant professor at Western University in the department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Western University, Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, ^[2] explains, “all life requires water, even the Earth itself needs it to continue to be life sustaining. Nibi, water, is important for our individual and community survival, health, wellbeing, and sustainability as well as for ecological integrity and function.”^[3] Not only is it a basic human right to have access to clean drinking water, but it has also been a sacred element of many Indigenous cultures for centuries. With the growing climate crisis, however, even this basic human right is being threatened. In the face of rising global temperatures, skyrocketing pollution rates, and an ever-growing population, it is becoming increasingly imperative that action is taken to protect our planet so that future generations are nourished and provided with a thriving home environment. Protecting the water is an essential step we must take if all living beings will continue to live in harmony with one another. It is the centre for many ecosystems, and crucial for the survival of all living things.

Water advocacy is therefore a central theme at the core of Teachings of the Water, a multi-movement choral work initially composed for the Elektra Women’s Choir in 2022. This piece resulted from a large-scale collaboration between Métis composer T. Patrick Carrabré, Squamish language keeper Rebecca Duncan, and ethnomusicologist Dr. Jeanette Gallant, among many others. Highlighting themes of interpersonal connection and environmental preservation, this project was also initiated as a reconciliation effort and strives to start important conversations about water stewardship and environmental preservation.

Current State of Water in Canada

To provide more context for the issues that inspired this piece, it is imperative to examine the current situation of Canada’s overall water quality. In 2023, Environment and Climate Change Canada performed a widespread study that tested the water quality of Canada’s rivers and lakes. This study, conducted from 2021-2023, rated many of Canada’s lakes and rivers on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being poor quality and 5 being excellent quality. The assessment was based on the water body’s ability to support the plants, animals, and overall ecosystems that rely on it. Based on the findings of the study, 83% of the assessed bodies of water received an overall rating of “fair to excellent.” While this may seem like a positive outlook for the majority of the water, it still leaves the remaining 17% of the water bodies with “poor” quality. The main causes of poor water quality found in the study were “land development through agriculture, forestry, mining, high population density.”^[4] This information communicates that some of the most polluted water bodies are found in highly populated areas, closest to towns and cities. The overall findings reflect the environmental devastation that will continue to plague our population if counteraction is not initiated.

Furthermore, there are still many boil-water advisories affecting Indigenous communities across Canada. From May 2016 to June 2024, the number of long-term drinking water advisories on Indigenous reserves in Canada went from 103 to 30.^[5] Again, while this is an improvement, there are still communities without access to clean water. Of the remaining 30 advisories, “87% were due to equipment and process-related problems.” The remaining 13% of issues were linked to the presence of E-Coli and other harmful microorganisms.^[6] These findings are frustrating and upsetting not only because access to clean water is a basic human right, but also due to the fixability of the maintenance issues. It is both frustrating and despicable that action has not been taken to fix them. Moreover, the disappointment deepens with the vital role that water plays in many Indigenous cultures, as demonstrated in Teachings of the Water. Devastating environmental statistics such as these contributed greatly to the inspiration for this project.

These environmental issues were especially prevalent in 2016, when there was a remarkable amount of misinformation about environmental issues in mainstream media, which is when the initial ideas for this project were born. Another contributing factor to this piece’s creation was the 2012 “Idle No More Movement,” – a public protest in response to Bill C-45 that was set to ignore Indigenous input on large construction projects.^[7]

Key Players Who Brought This Work To Life

The desire to respond to these growing environmental and legislative threats was a propelling factor behind the desire to design a reconciliation project for Elektra. The idea was initiated by ethnomusicologist Dr. Jeanette Gallant, who recruited Morna Edmusdson, the creative director and co-founder of Elektra. They were drawn to collaborate by their mutual interest in creating a reconciliation work that concerned women and water. In the official listener’s guide to this piece, Gallant states that “given widespread public concern for B.C.’s coastal waters, I thought the idea of women and water stewardship might be an excellent way to engage a women’s choral group in an act of reconciliation through the arts.”^[8]

In anticipation that the work would be viewed by mostly non-Indigenous audiences, Gallant comments, “I constructed the following framework through which First Nations water teachings could be shared by knowledge keepers. The Natural World, Birth, Ceremony, Song, and Identity.” Because they wanted to do the work correctly, both Gallant and Edmunsdon decided to bring in Indigenous knowledge keepers and composers to properly share the ideas of the project. Consequently, both Rebecca Duncan, a Squamish language keeper, and T. Patrick Carrabré, a Métis composer from Winnipeg, were both invited to be part of the project. Duncan carefully selected, gifted to, and taught the choir the Squamish text accompanying the music. Working closely with the team, Carrabré crafted an intricate musical framework made to fit not only the Squamish text, but also to be modified to accommodate a wide range of teachings depending on the location of future performances and the local Indigenous practices of those regions. As a Métis person, Carrabré felt that he had a particular mediary role to play in the work’s creation between Western culture and Indigenous culture. “As an academic and as a composer, I feel I have a responsibility to play as strong a role as I can in making sure that as we interact between Western tradition and Western law, and Indigenous traditions and protocols, that there’s some efforts made to make them work better together” – T. Patrick Carrabré These sentiments were reflected during the many meetings that the team had via Zoom to ensure that the different voices and perspectives would all be reflected in the finished product.

The Five Movements

Each movement of this work brings a new thought to the overall message of the music. In movement one, “Ḵeḵsín ti syatshn” (The Natural World), emphasis is placed on the idea of interconnectivity, how everything is related to each other. The specific word that Dr. Gallant uses to further develop this idea is “relationality,” which can be described as a widespread relationship between all living things to each other, the land, and the spirit world, which creates more intricate interdependencies between one another.^[9] Rebecca Duncan further emphasizes this theme by providing an English translation for the title of the work, “this basket we’re all in together.”^[10] These teachings place emphasis on the role that we must all take on in order to protect our Earth from harm and the importance of living together in peace and harmony.

“We must all be one, connected to each other, to make this Ḵeḵsín ti syatshn, this basket we’re all in together, a much more beautiful place.”^[11]

Movement 2, “Kwis na xwey” (Birth), focuses on themes of human creation and the role that water plays in the processes of conception and childbirth. Somewhat similar to the Squamish traditions that Duncan shares in the whole of this work, there are some parallels in Anishinaabe culture surrounding ideas of birth and the role that water plays in that process. Anishinaabe Elder Bawdwaywidun Bensaise Edward Benton-Banai-ba explains, “women have a reciprocal and unique relationship with the waters of the Earth. Among the Anishinaabe people, it is believed that our women in particular share a sacred connection to the spirit of water through their role as child bearers and have particular responsibilities to protect those same aspects in water.”^[12] In other words, water is present before human conception. Babies grow in the sacred water of their mothers, and even enter the world with the help of water-based amniotic fluid. This movement displays these ideas by depicting active labour through various vocal techniques, including panting and sighing, creating a rushing, urgent feeling meant to reflect a mother’s experience in labour.

The third movement, titled “Shúkw’em” (Ceremony), sheds light on a particular cleansing practice performed by the Coast Salish Peoples, called the Cedar Brushing ceremony. In this ceremony, usually led by three women, participants go down to a moving body of water, such as a river, and brush cedar boughs over themselves and others to cleanse their bodies and spirits of negative energy. Not only does this ceremony facilitate healthy emotional release, but it is a way to connect with the land and water, as well as one’s ancestors and spirit guides. At the end of the ceremony, the cedar boughs are sent downriver to return them to the Earth.^[13] The ambience and core ideas of this ceremony are reflected in this movement through the usage of various vocal techniques. At two points during the movement, the choir is instructed to whisper the Squamish word “shúkw’em” at a pianissimo volume, creating an effect that mimics the sound of cedar boughs brushing back and forth during the ceremony. While the choir softly chants, a narrator is asked to read a short poem or story relating to the traditional territory of where the choir is located. The responsibility of selecting a poem or story and inviting a guest speaker is left up to the performing choir.  This narrated moment thus can present an opportunity for the local water teachings to be shared by the invited narrator, and can differ greatly depending on who comes in to speak. These combined factors paint a vivid picture that helps the audience to firmly grasp the concepts of this water teaching.

The fourth movement, “Slúlum” (Song), touches on the unique and very close relationship between song and water. “Song is a part of us as water is a part of us as the cedar tree is a part of us. It is impossible to separate water from song because that is who we are and that is how we connect.”^[14] These thoughts are reflected in this movement through the path that the music follows. It begins with a longing solo which eventually blends seamlessly into the body of the piece, symbolic of a long voice calling out over the water and then becoming one with the water. The vocalist singing the solo is instructed to sing softly and“nostalgically.” Shortly after, the rest of the choir joins and echos the solo line from before, giving it a unified feel. This reinforces the connection between song and water, connecting them through sound in this movement.

The final movement of this work is called “Úxwumixw” (Identity). “Who we are affects not only our elders, but also our children, our future generations. For they need to know who they come from, where they come from, and which village they come from.”^[15] – Rebecca DuncanThis teaching describes identity as a type of “ripple effect,” affecting how much we know about each other and what stories our waters and land can tell our future generations. To reflect this, the composer uses musical techniques to simulate the feel of the “ripple effect.” The choir is given the instruction, “like clear, smooth waves,” indicating a very smooth feeling for this movement, reminiscent of ripples or small waves. Adding to the ripple effect is the timing of the entrances of the different voices. The movement starts with one voice alone and then is joined shortly after by more voices, growing in volume as the music continues, symbolic of how a ripple grows and expands until it fades away into the water’s surface.

Activism in Teachings of the Water

This piece serves as a raw reminder of how crucial our water is to all life on Earth. There are several angles of activism represented in this piece, such as environmental activism, amplification of women’s and LGBTQ2S voices, and Indigenous rights.

Environmental Activism

This work helps to spread awareness about the vital role that water plays in keeping all living things healthy and thriving. Dedicating a choral composition to water is a great way to get audiences thinking about their personal relationships to water, which can start the thinking process about related environmental issues. With our environment becoming increasingly polluted due to human activity, taking action is now more necessary than ever. Water teachings align with the necessary steps to protect water and slow the damage being done to it.

Women’s Rights and Maternal Activism

Traditionally, it is an Indigenous community’s women, and those who identify as female, who hold a special connection with water. There are a notable number of connections between the water teachings of the Squamish Peoples and other Indigenous cultures, such as the Anishinaabe Peoples. As Renée E. Mazinegiizhigookwe Bédard explains,

Women are taught that water controls their menstrual cycles, our ability to carry a viable pregnancy. It is present during our miscarriages to cleanse our bodies and acts as a wave of water to usher in the new life of our children. And when our menstrual cycles leave us as menopause, water stays with us as a familiar companion to walk with us on the final stage of life.

Teachings of the Water echoes this important role that water plays in the lives of women through their ability to create new life through to their old age. Unfortunately, climate change and polluted waters are increasing the risk of illness, which negatively affects the freedom for the women to reproduce and carry out their cycles with the help of their water.^[16]

Indigenous Rights

First and foremost, this piece advocates for Indigenous peoples by making their practices and beliefs the focal point of this work. Again, even having audiences hear the piece is an efficient way to spread awareness about these practices and to educate people on their importance. This work also brings awareness to the immense role that water plays in many different Indigenous cultures. This is highlighted by the fostering of opportunities to share local Indigenous knowledge that this piece creates. The opportunities for a custom spoken-word solo, for the text in any language, and for the invitation of guest speakers emphasize this point. Moreover, in a personal interview with composer Patrick Carrabré, he commented on the importance of sharing different Indigenous teachings. “It’s important to advocate for a real diversity of approaches and thinking… It’s so easy for us to not be face to face with the realities of other people. I think whatever we can do to try and enrich that discussion, or make it more complicated, [we should do it].” The positive action that this piece is striving to inspire, reinforced by the opportunity for collaboration, allows these vital parts of many cultures to be widely shared. By extension, there is hope that more and more Indigenous communities will be able to keep advocating for the protection of water using their traditional practices. Finally, Carrabré hopes that audiences will walk away from the performance with incentive to find out who the First Peoples of their homeland are and to make an effort to get to know them. “That means you have to go to someplace where you may not feel comfortable,” Carrabré stated. “That personal connection is absolutely integral to Indigenous life and is something that we could really benefit from in Western culture.”

Final Thoughts

In closing, Teachings of the Water is a unique piece that not only offers audiences the opportunity to make connections with local Indigenous culture, but it also serves as a conversation starter about pressing issues, such as climate change and accessibility to clean water. By simply being performed, this work has the power to spread these messages to audiences that may not otherwise hear them. “[People] might not go to a climate event on purpose, but [if] they’re at a concert and there’s a piece about climate or about the environment, [they’ll hear those messages regardless].” – T. Patrick Carrabré Due to the pressing urgency of the climate crisis, it is becoming increasingly important that action is taken to address, access, and combat these issues. While addressing environmental concerns, this piece amplifies the voices of Indigenous peoples and their traditional ways of knowing, thus, encouraging Indigenous-led action to address the matters in question. Not only do we rely on clean water for our survival, but the human body is largely composed of water, the health of which can be directly linked to the health of the water and environment around us. Therefore, the climate crisis will affect every one of us on a biological level if action is not taken to protect our water. Teachings of the Water instigates conversations about climate action action so that our future generations have a chance of enjoying their lives and raising their children in a healthy and thriving environment with access to clean water.