Witnessing Mo’hsokoh: A Ceremonial Continuation

Witnessing Mo’hsokoh: A Ceremonial Continuation

This piece is offered as a shared witnessing.

It is co-written by Matthew Gigg of Resource Development, who sat in the outer circle as community witness, and Natalie Wynn-Dempsey, Indigenous Engagement Co-ordinator, who held, shaped, and tended the ceremonial space from which this moment emerged. Together, their voices braid experience and observation, inner and outer knowing, to carry forward what was seen, felt, and entrusted during the validation of Mo’hsokoh.

What follows is not a report or a summary. It is a ceremonial continuation, a living thread that began with Iitsihtaana, Momentum’s first Indigenous Engagement Strategy, meaning will, state of mind, and thoughts. This offering invites you to step into that thread, to witness with care, and to feel how the Pathway is already moving.

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A blanket of snow covers the grass. The sky is clear, but more snow falls from the upper branches of a poplar stand – knocked loose, maybe, by a bird or squirrel, or warmed in the sharp, westerly sun.

You are inside, looking through the windows. The snow glitters as it falls, and casts shadows that dance upon the buffalo robe placed in the centre of the room, Anitopisi.

The Elders sit with the sun on their backs. Elder Art Cunningham, Elder Roy Bear Chief, and Elder Dustin Walter. Flowers rest on the altar, alongside a single unlit candle.

The ceremony begins with a smudge of sweetgrass. Elder Dustin speaks first in Blackfoot, clear and unhurried, then echoes his welcome in English. We are here, he shares, to tend to something.

Mo’hsokoh, the nascent breath of a living spirit, born of this community, who shaped its voice and will sustain its essence. Mo’hsokoh in Blackfoot. Pathway in English. The word is said aloud, “Mo’hsokoh,” and Elder Roy repeats it with a grin. A question is asked: “how do we sustain the pathway?”

Tobacco ties and braids of sweetgrass are presented to the inner circle, held in gratitude. Together, the inner circle walks as one, breathing relationship, reciprocity, and renewal into every action. Encouragement is offered to continue walking forward in a good way, honouring the impact already made and the responsibilities still being carried. Gifts and offerings are then presented to the Elders, and to Dr. Karlee Fellner, the Pipe Carrier.

You are watching from the outer circle, invited to be like the trees themselves, rooted, steady, and present. You witness a moment of promise taking shape. Without needing to speak or act, your presence matters, offering quiet strength and stability to what the inner circle brought into being. Both circles are important; not one exists without the other.

Elder Art, Métis, speaks of commitment, understanding, and of “The Momentum Way.” Of how vital it is to bring joy and respect to our work, to listen deeply, and to stay open to one another.

Elder Roy, Blackfoot, from Sikisika, speaks softly of his time in a Residential School and the years that followed, when he lost his way for a time. His words carry remembering and teachings, calling us back to Creator and reminding us to walk in a good way. “The pathway,” he says, “has been trodden by many, tested… it’s not there for nothing.”

Elder Dustin, Blackfoot, from Ampskapii Pikunii, speaks of his journey from a humble allotment on the Blackfeet Reservation, his vocation as a rancher, a paramedic, a nurse, and now a doctoral student and educator in Indigenous ways of knowing.

Now, the smudge reaches you and everyone in the outer circle. It is offered in silence. As the smoke is drawn gently over body and spirit, an eagle feather is lifted above each head in honour, bestowing care and love. The room remains hushed and reverent; the smudge carefully tended, its rising smoke carrying prayers and gratitude to Creator.

Semah is given to the inner circle as an offering. The tobacco is held in the left hand – a closer pathway, Karlee teaches, to the heart. Intentions emerge as commitments are shared: litsihtaana, grace, responsibility, humility, learning across past and future, living a good life, and being in good and right relations; each held within a shared bundle of Indigenous spiritual love.

Karlee shares her own journey, and the journey of the pipe, reminding us that everyone is connected to Indigeneity. Some are living this connection each day, and others have been separated over generations and are remembering their way back. The eagle feather, Karlee says, carries this teaching. At its beginning, the quill marks our arrival into this world, smooth and close to spirit, held near Creator. From there, a clear and steady pathway runs through the centre of the feather. As life unfolds, we move outward into experience, into learning, grief, curiosity, and becoming. At times, we find ourselves away from that centre. Still, the pathway remains. Like the feather itself, it holds us and guides us back again. Truth and Reconciliation is not an idea to be understood, but a living promise, renewed each time we return to the path through ceremony and how we choose to walk.

Karlee lights the pipe and, in between breaths, twists it over curls of smoke rising from the smudge. The Calling Song rises with the steady heartbeat of the drum. Sweetgrass has already invited good in; now sage carries prayers, clearing the way, for the pipe. When the song settles, Karlee whispers, “once more,” and voices from both circles join the refrain.

The Elders speak again. They share that this work exists to serve those who are coming behind us, that Mo’hsokoh is co-created, that each contribution, like a strand in a braid, strengthens and sustains its, growing through relationship, reciprocity, and love. Elder Dustin says, “Education is the new buffalo.”

A steady drumbeat rises, carrying a Blackfoot grandmother song. Imagine yourself being rocked by your grandmother as a baby, held close and carried by her love; at the same time, imagine yourself rocking your own grandchildren, holding the future in your arms. The song moves in both directions, honouring women as life-givers and carriers of continuity. The room settles into its rhythm, held by care that flows across generations.

The closing song, the Buffalo Song is now sung. This song was gifted during a Validation Pipe Ceremony at the beginning of this journey, marking the bringing of Mo’hsokoh into existence. It is carried forward as a gift to Momentum, held for Indigenous-led offerings and the work still unfolding. The Buffalo Song carries further teachings: like the buffalo, we are meant to face the storms of life directly, moving through rather than around, in the hope that growth, strength, and maturity are formed as storms are met. Sung in this way, the Buffalo Song becomes uplifting medicine, offering steadiness and courage for the journey.

Elder Roy holds a bowl of stew as a spirit plate and offers a prayer in Blackfoot, the same prayer he shares with his wife before they eat at home. In the prayer, the “hungry ones downtown” are remembered, held in their thoughts and care.

Mo’hsokoh doesn’t sit on the pages of a document; it lives in the songs, the laughter, and the work – in all the ways we show up for one another, in the courage it takes to walk together when the path feels uncertain, with gratitude always for those who walk beside us.

Having read this, you too are a witness.

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Witnessing carries responsibility. It asks something of us, not urgency, but attention; not certainty, but willingness. Mo’hsokoh lives beyond this moment, beyond ceremony, beyond words. It lives in how we choose to walk, relate, listen, and act.

We invite you now to read the Mo'hsokoh Momentum's Indigenous Engagement Pathway with this perspective in mind. Read it not as a static document, but as a living Pathway, one shaped by community, sustained through relationship, and strengthened by each person who commits to walking it in a good and right way.

The Pathway is already beneath your feet. The invitation is simply this: step forward, and keep walking.