A picture of 4 women The Caibaiosai sisters who are Anishinaabe kwe from the Bear Clan. In this photo, they are wearing traditional ribbon skirts and standing on the river's edge in a grass field. The skirts are blue with a borken ice pattern. Ribbons are ½ way up the skirt and are tri colour. different on each skirt. The "Water Woman" pictograph is on each skirt, and below the ribbons there is a material with images of moose. Mary Anne is holding a copper bucket and the woman on the far right is holding an eagle staff. All four women are weakening reflective safety vests

CKMS News -2025-09-18- “For the water behind the dams”, Walking the Grand River as ceremony

CKMSNews -2025-09-17- Grand River Water Walk 2025

dan kellar
Waterloo Region, ON
 – Most people that have walked with us say they have been transformed in how they appreciate the water and appreciate the land”. Those are the worlds of Mary Anne Caibaiosai, an Anishnaabe woman who has since 2018 been organising the Grand River Water Walk. Caibaiosai spoke to CKMS News earlier this week.

Now in its 3rd year of its second 4 year cycle, Caibaiosai also reminds folks that the walk is not a “social event or political statement, but a ceremony. This year’s walk, which begins on September 21st at the mouth of the river near Dundalk “is for the water behind the dams”.  The  walk, down to the river’s mouth at Lake Erie, is for people of all nations and it follows the protocols of Josephine-baa Mandamin, who led water walks around the Great Lakes prior to her passing in 2019.

This show features an interview with Mary Anne Caibaiosai

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