THE NEED FOR A SPIRIT OF HEALING CRIES OUT TO US

The sentencing of Juan and Edgar Uyunkar on charges stemming from the death
of Jane Maiangowi has come to pass, leaving the younger of the two
Ecuadorian medicine men free to return home to his family, while keeping
the father in Canada for yet another year. Their interpreter, Maria Ventura
has had all charges against her dropped, and she must now struggle to undo
the economic damage the charges have dealt to her.

The wake of those tragic events on that mid-October evening in Wikwemikong
a year and a half ago has left both a deep sadness and a division on the
preferred fate of Indigenous traditional healing practices, in both the
Native and non-native communities.

Unlike the divisions which have occurred in the past, these new divisions
are based on philosophy and beliefs in the efficacy of, and right to chose
one's own path of healing, rather along lines of race or culture, bringing
members of both communities together in defence of their chosen side.

It could only add a further and tremendous injustice to the tragic events
of the past year and a half if the hard work and dedication of people like
Ron Wakegijig and Dr. Jack Bailey, people who have toiled tirelessly to
bring the traditional and conventional medicine traditions harmoniously
together, should be set back by the fallout from events which only
marginally impinge upon their work.

That Native healing medicines do work and have intrinsic value in
themselves is borne out clearly in the frantic efforts of huge
multinational pharmaceutical companies, companies who are racing pell-mell
to isolate and patent the active ingredients in traditional medicines for
profit.

In the aftermath of the death of Mrs. Maiangowi, both the Uyunkars and the
Maiangowi family have come under threat and angry recrimination from
supporters of their opposite numbers, actions which both the Uyunkars and
Mrs. Maiangowi herself would doubtless decry.

This paper has called for an inquest to be formed by a panel of the Elders
of the First Nation community; an inquest in which they can examine the
merits of the issues and put forth their considered advice as to how to
best deal with those issues. That is a call which, now that the criminal
proceedings have played their course, we renew.

How best to deal with the issue of Indigenous medicines and sacred
practices belongs most properly to the sovereign will of the people from
whom those practices spring. By holding an 'inquest' into the matter,
non-native society and the larger culture at large will have a definitive
decision on those values by those most qualified to rule on them.

Perhaps then a truly positive healing spirit will have arisen from the
sadness of this tragedy.