Katarokwi Indigenous Placekeeping & Storytelling
Katarokwi Indigenous
Placekeeping & Storytelling
The Katarokwi Indigenous Placekeeping & Storytelling Project StoryMaps shares three stories of land-based work conducted or led by urban Indigenous community members in Katarokwi. The work is grassroots, self-organizing, and a response to our collective need to connect with the place where we live.
Ka’taroh:kwi is a Haudenosaunee place name meaning "a place with mud or clay” or “where limestone is"[1] [2]). The modern landscape features a mix of wetlands, urban, and rural peri-urban areas situated at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. This Land holds memories, materials, and stories of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Huron-Wendat peoples.
The three stories shared through the StoryMaps include historical research, land reclaiming and care, and water ceremonies. These stories are just a few among many in the community and deeply honour the historical communities, the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Huron-Wendat, and respect the lands and waters as our ecological, cultural, and spiritual kin. In this way, we see the StoryMaps as a living Land Acknowledgement.
Today, many Indigenous peoples live in Ka’taroh:kwi, including the Anishinaabe, Algonquin, Haudenosaunee, Cree, Métis, Inuit, and others. We carry diverse teachings and languages, along with stories of land displacement across diverse geographies and sometimes family loss. Settler colonialism disrupted relationships with land and culture, impacts that are still felt today. Nevertheless, Indigenous presence and memory endure, often hidden in plain sight within neighbourhoods, gardens, and along shorelines. This project is a small act of remembrance and community-building, aiming to honour the layered histories and ongoing presence of Indigenous peoples—past, present, and future.
Stories of Indigenous Placekeeping
Indigenous Placekeeping awakens us to Indigenous histories erased from the landscape and our memories. It deepens our kinship with the Earth, her Waters and All Our Relations. It helps create a sense of belonging to the land and connection to one another… A sense of place. Here are three stories of Indigenous Placekeeping in Katarokwi.
‘Hidden in Plain Sight’
Indigeneous Historic Sites
For thousands of years, the lands and waters of Ka’taroh:kwi have been home to vibrant Indigenous communities whose presence continues today. Hidden beneath roads, buildings, and parks are the traces of village sites, travel routes, burial grounds, and places of gathering. These locations remind us that this region has always been a place of movement, story, diplomacy, and responsibility.
Indigenous Food
Sovereignty Garden
Located in Kingston, Ontario, the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Garden was established in 2021 as an Indigenous-led expression of community resilience, land stewardship, and care for future generations. Over three growing seasons, more than 600 volunteers have cultivated vegetable gardens, planted and harvested medicines, established a pollinator garden, and planted over 1,000 native trees and shrubs in this community space.
Lake Ontario
Shoreline
Indigenous women gather at the Lake Ontario & St. Lawrence River shoreline in the spring and fall to conduct a ceremony dedicated to the health of the water and shoreline. Water is considered a medicine and spirit, and with the Great Lakes holding one-fifth of the world’s freshwater supply, this ceremony holds significant teachings for women who bear this particular responsibility.
Interviews
Historic Sites Interview:
A Conversation with Sheldon Traviss
Interview with Artist Sheldon Traviss - Historic Sites | Film Created by Fireheart Films
Indigenous Food Sovereignty Garden Interviews:
Stories from Founders & Board Members
Interview with founding member of All Our Relations Land Trust, Maureen Buchanan. Maureen is an Anishinaabekwe, a member of the local urban Indigenous community of Kingston and a member of the Batchewana First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie. Maureen has lived in Kingston for 30 years.
A Conversation with Mnidoo asin kwe (Spirit Rock Woman). Water Ceremony Story, Kimberley Debassige | Film Created by Fireheart Films, 2025. Nibi (Water Song) audio by Kimberley Debassige, Original Song by Dorene Day, see Media Credits.
Interview with Board Chair of All Our Relations Land Trust, Dr. Kaitlyn Patterson. Kaitlyn is mixed-ancestry Algonquin from the Loon Clan. Her Algonquin Ancestors are from Mattawa, Ontario, and she has lived in Katarokwi for most of her life.
Water Ceremony Interviews:
A Conversation with Black Thunderbird Woman on the Horizon - Interview with Carol Ann Budd | Film Created by Fireheart Films, 2025.
Indigenous Food Sovereignty Garden Tour
This project is funded by:
