Land Bass Healing Tour

Workshop Presentations

The Land Bass Healing Presentations were designed by Shibastik to instil pride, inspire courage, raise awareness, and promote healing. Using live music and original artwork as well as storytelling and motivational speaking, these interactive and entertaining workshops focus on many of the issues Aboriginal youth are all too often confronted with. While topics including depression, suicide, addiction, and the inter-generational effects of residential schools are discussed, the importance of healing and moving forward are the focus. Whether small or large, audiences are captivated by the music, artwork, and storytelling of a Native who grew up on the land and has a deep love for his people and his culture.

* Hunt for Healing

For Shibastik, the land has always been a source of strength, a place to heal, to reconnect, and to recenter. Life is all about balance. There must be balance in nature, and there must be balance within. When healing, it is important to focus on the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual sides of one's self. It is all connected, as are we.

It is so important that our communities have hunters that carry on the tradition of providing for those who can not hunt. Our wild game is the healthiest meat on the planet, and our berries are all organic!!

Shibastik was recently diagnosed with diabetes while on tour in the United States and Mexico. This has forced him to return to as much of a traditional diet as possible, and to the land for healing as often as he can.

Hunt For Healing teaches healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with issues such as depression, anger, and low self-esteem.

Through his work as a IRCS (Intensive Rehabilitation in Custody Supervision) Worker at a Secure Custody Youth Detention Centre, Shibastik gained extensive experience working with troubled youth. Shibastik also received a wide variety of training, in everything from cognitive therapy, to building sweat lodges and running sharing circles. This workshop is a product of all of this work and experience. Delivering a message of self-empowerment, self-respect, and self-worth, Hunt For Healing will ignite a fire of hope. Through education and understanding, we can begin the process of healing.

* Hurt People

Hurt People focuses specifically on residential schools and the devastating impacts they've had on our lives and in our communities. Many do not associate residential school traumas with current issues affecting their families and/or communities. Even worse, these problems are often generalized as 'just a Native thing.'

"We do not have these issues because we are Native," says Shibastik. "We have these issues as a direct result of our historical trauma." Shibastik feels it is extremely important that all Canadians make this connection. We must never forget that for 150 years our children were stolen and mentally, spiritually, physically and often sexually abused in concentration camps they called residential schools.

It is a dark part of our history that still haunts us. Its lingering effects are most evident in the large and disproportionate numbers of our youth in foster care, incarcerated in correctional facilities, and our missing and murdered women. Our resilience is our strength, proving it's never too late to revive who they tried to kill in us! It is time to end the cycle of pain that began in residential schools.

* Native Class

A proud Cree hunter from the James Bay Lowlands, Shibastik was taught many valuable lessons while living off the land, including the value of hard work, the art of patience, and respect for nature and all living things. Shibastik also attends ceremony, including the Uwipi (Night Lodge), Shaking Tent, and Sweat Lodge, even helping to construct a Lodge and host Sweats while employed at a Youth Detention Centre in Thunder Bay. He will also discuss the Walking Out Ceremony and how vital it is to bring such traditions back, ending the residential school taught stigma that they are evil.

The Native Class workshop reminds us about our history as Native people, and who we have the power to be today. RESPECT is key and LOVE is the answer! These are just two of the seven sacred teachings that Shibastik will share and discuss. As well as advocating for the protection of the land and waterways, Shibastik encourages youth to feed their inner spirit by learning their history and practicing their traditions.

Spiritual medicines like sage and sweetgrass can be just as healing and powerful as medicines we put in our bodies. Music is medicine. It can be used to heal. It can also be used to poison. There are many negative influences in mainstream media, including materialism, alcohol and drug abuse, promiscuity, and violence, among others.

This workshop also teaches the importance of becoming media literate in order for youth to make educated and positive decisions. Youth who have participated in the Native Class workshop have found self-confidence and an appreciation for what it is to be First Nations.

Culture & COVID-19 (A virtual workshop experience)

Shibastik has always encouraged the return to our traditional ways of living, eating and thinking as a means to cope with stress, anger, depression and past trauma, but now more than ever it is vital for the youth in our remote northern Native communities to see what they HAVE around them. The land is alive and waiting for you. She wants to help you heal and become as strong as you were meant to be. She wants to feed you what you were meant to eat, provide you with the air you were meant to breathe and the water you were meant to drink. She wants to keep you warm in the cold and dry in the rain. She wants to show you true beauty and also remind you that this world can be harsh but we are all equipped with the abilities to handle every circumstance. Knowledge is power. Our culture is key.

The Art of Nish Hop (Healing Through Hip Hop Workshop)

The original "Healing Through Hip Hop" song production workshop for Native youth and young adults. Participants will create a 100% original song with Shibastik's help and guidance. They will learn how to make a beat using a drum machine and how to structure a song, as well as lyrical techniques and writing skills like multisyllabic rhyming, word play, metaphors and imagery. They will also experience the recording process and be given the opportunity to get on the microphone and speak their truth. This workshop is THERAPY as well as fun! Instruments of any kind are always welcome. Drums, rattles, flutes and traditional vocals always encouraged! Check out the videos we've produced!!

Fighting Through PAINt (Art Workshop/Therapy)

There are many healthy ways to fight through your pain, and painting is one of them. Expressing yourself and releasing your emotions through art can be very therapeutic, and is a healthy coping mechanism for stress, anger, and depression. Shibastik will work with participants to provide art instruction on composition, visual elements, acrylic paint application and techniques, as well as share stories and teachings on art as a healing tool and a weapon to help you fight off your fear, fight for a cause, or fight through your pain, no matter how deep the wound. Those who participate in this workshop will leave with new skills as artists, some of the weight released, and a fresh outlook on life. (Art pieces produced can range from small canvases to large murals)

Land Based Healing

Growing up in the isolated northern Mushkegowuk Cree communities of Moosonee and Moose Factory, Shibastik is an experienced hunter, fisherman, boatsman, and is most in his element when on a snow machine weaving through the vast frozen swamps of the James Bay Lowlands. With extensive knowledge of river and land navigation, traditional animal harvesting and survival tactics, Shibastik will host excursions and provide his own teachings as well as facilitate space for local elders and guides to address participants. (Boats/snow machines and local guides/elders must be provided)

Tour Stops:

SHIBASTIK TOUR HISTORY

Reserves :

Attawapiskat FN, ON
Fort Albany FN, ON
Kashechewan FN, ON
Moose Factory FN, ON
Bear Island F.N., ON
Serpent River FN, ON

Whitesand FN, ON
Pays Plat FN, ON
Sand Point, FN, ON
Sandy Lake FN, ON
Constance Lake FN, ON

Eagle Lake, FN, ON
White Dog FN, ON
Mishkeegogamang FN, ON
Pelican Falls, ON
Lac Seul FN, ON
Lac La Croix FN, ON

Fort William FN, ON

Weagamow FN, ON

Red Rock (Lake Helen FN), ON

Webequie FN, ON

Manitoulin Island FN, ON

Wunnumin Lake FN, ON
Waywayseecappo FN, MB
Great Whale FN, QC
Chisasibi FN, QC
Wemindji FN, QC
Waskaganish FN, QC
Mistissini FN, QC
Waswanipi FN, QC
Ouje-bougoumou FN, QC
Namesake FN, QC

Eastmain FN, QC

Mussel white Mine, ON

Fort Hope FN, ON

Bearskin Lake FN, ON

Quetico Park, ON (Lac le Croix FN traditional territory)

Canadian Stops :

Moosonee, ON
Cochrane, ON
Timmins, ON
Toronto, ON

Waterloo, ON
Ottawa, ON

Peterborough, ON

Huntsville, ON
Chapleau, ON
Sault St. Marie, ON

North Bay, ON

Thunder Bay, ON

Sioux Lookout, ON

Kenora, ON
Fort Francis, ON
Atikokan, ON

Winnipeg, MB

Val Dor, QC

Mississauga, ON

Muskoka, ON

International Stops :

Chicago, IL, USA

Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, WI, USA

Albuquerque, NM, USA

Pheonix, AZ, USA

Red Mesa, AZ, USA

Ute, AZ, USA

Kaibeto, AZ, USA

Durango, CO, USA

Santa Fe, NM, USA

Flagstaff, AZ. USA

Los Vegas NV, USA

Farmington NM, USA

Los Angeles CA, USA

Nogales, Mexico

Book your tour stop now!!

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