'Reignited a fire': All Nations Hope project reconnects Indigenous women to traditional ceremonies

Miranda Keewatin poses with her son in front of a display showing the initial findings of the Kotawe research project. (Donovan Maess/CTV News)

Kotawe, a research project by the All Nations Hope Network is reconnecting Indigenous women to their traditional ceremonial roles.

Traditions and knowledge passed down from generation to generation through oral storytelling at the network’s winter gathering were featured this past week. Storytelling is just one version of ceremony.

“It’s important we understand who we are, where we come from and why we're here,” Okimaw Margaret Kisikaw Piyesis, of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, told CTV News. “Then pass these on to our children, our grandchildren and those to come.”

Kotawe is a five-year project, researching the effects of traditional matriarchal practices in ceremony. The Cree word ‘Kotawe’ means “start a fire.”

The project reconnected a group of women called the Willow Warriors to traditional ceremonial practices. Their goal was to prove the connection to ceremony can bring healing.

“[It] exemplifies by looking at the women today and how they lead in ceremony, in culture,” Miranda Keewatin, research manager on the project, explained.

“Each and every woman who has participated in Kotawe in some way, has reignited a fire.”

Kotawe started with seven women and has grown to include 10.

Growing up in Regina, Keewatin said it took her years to connect with her culture. She explained that Indigenous girls go through a rite of passage at the age of 13. She never went through those rites and the project helped her complete that lost opportunity.

“I now know I am a part of the bear clan,” she said. “I help women gain their names and help elders prepare for ceremony. I know where I stand and how important it is where I am standing.”

While the research is bringing results in their own lives, Keewatin hoped the next generation of Willow Warriors will carry the torch.

At a vigil held Wednesday night dedicated to MMIWG2S+, a current warrior and her daughter sang traditional songs to bring and send away spirits to the gathering.

“Kotawe is a spirt,” Keewatin said. “It is an energy that is in all of us.”

The findings of the project will be published in 2026 through an ethical report. The research group also has plans to publish a traditional narrative report that will use pictographs.

The next step for All Nations Hope is to do a similar research project for urban Indigenous men and how they can use traditional roles for rehab.

“If [Indigenous people] are running programs, workshop, training and getting research within our ways of knowing and doing, the solutions will come to life,” Kisikaw Piyesis said.

“We need this to heal,” Keewatin explained. “We need sustainable programming to help heal our people. We know what works and what doesn’t work and we can say that projects like Kotawe work.”