Language & Culture
The Plants that Heal project is based on protecting our culture and heritage. This project was developed to fill a gap between a modern and traditional way of living, through the practice and teachings of medicinal plants. Historically, our people have lived solely off the land and have gradually drifted away from that traditional lifestyle. We must continue to practice our culture and have a strong relationship with the land and our elders because our identity as an Anishinabe relies on these connections. Practices and teachings for medicinal plants are woven into culture and bond us spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically to the land and to our ancestors. The goal of the project is to encourage the use of medicinal plants and channel our elder’s traditional knowledge to the next generation before it fades away completely. This website is a tool to access information on plants before going to harvest.
The sites (WLFN or TFN) provides information on the medicinal use, harvesting and ecology of 33 medicinal plants. It also showcases the potential of presence of these plants in Wolf Lake and Timiskaming First Nations traditional territories. We encourage you to browse through our map, to click on areas and points to learn more about the species.
If you plan on going to the field and harvest medicinal plants, please make sure you respect the plants, the harvesting sites and the environment. Click here to find useful tips on how to collect medicinal plants while protecting the plant populations for the future generation.
Disclaimer: These are living site and maps – not all Algonquin medicinal plants are represented here. The extent of the map does not suggest the limits of Algonquin Rights and Interests.
Algonquin place names tell stories. These stories connect people to the land and to the cultural identity of where we live. Place names, or toponymy, are an important element of Aboriginal story telling, where cultural traditions are passed between one generation and the next. Between 1910 and the 1930’s, Algonquin place names simply disappeared from our maps (click here to read on Toponymical Imperialism in Quebec). The goal of our project is to bring these stories back, to map our toponyms before they are lost forever.
We encourage you to browse through our Google Map, to click on points and interact with our stories of place. And please email us with feedback – we would love to hear from you!