Creators Garden - Joseph Pitawanakwat

10/03/2025

Behind the scenes, I’m always doing everything I can to better Anishinaabe mashkikii aadiziwin (our medicine way of life).

Here’s one example: I recently worked out a formal agreement with the Town of Halton Hills that protects the use of Indigenous knowledge in a really practical context. It’s not about pharmaceuticals, patents, or mass production.. so we were not about to pump out a 20page agreement focused on IP and compensations ..this one is about simple steps for townships.. about making sure our medicines are represented properly in things like local signage, brochures, and community education events.

The agreement puts in writing that:
- Our knowledge is credited clearly and prominently (not just treated like “free public info”).
- If staff change, the Town still has to consult us before reusing or editing anything.
- The materials are only for in-person educational events, not for commercial use or redistribution.
- Everything must be approached with cultural and spiritual respect.
- No edits, adaptations, or future use can happen without our approval and consultation with knowledge holders.
- And if the agreement ends, so does their right to use the knowledge.

I know it might look small ..just a town, just some signage.. but agreements like this, I think, create a baseline of respect.

They show that Indigenous knowledge can’t just be extracted, rebranded, and recycled without accountability.

If more municipalities followed this model, it could set a standard: our knowledge is not just “content,” it’s living science, law, and spirit.. every use, whether it’s a brochure, a trail sign, or a healthcare pilot, must be done in a way that keeps sovereignty and respect at the center.

This is one of many ways I’m making sure that even the smallest projects build toward a future where Indigenous medicines are protected, respected, and practiced.. on our terms.

Let me know what you all think?! I am very VERY open to criticisms. As projects like this roll out I want to make sure these agreements are airtight! Dm, comment. Gichimiigwech!

09/28/2025

In pursuit of Indigenous Health Sovereignty since March of this year… the success of the system I’ve built has landed me in high-level spaces. And what I’ve seen, first hand, over and over again, is how institutions and governments neutralize Indigenous resistance. It’s sneaky AF.

Two-Eyed Seeing is the perfect example.

What started as a teaching is now hijacked by universities and health systems to keep us trapped inside their frameworks. It upholds a disgusting illusion of balance. In reality? It strips our knowledge of sovereignty and responsibility, turning it into an “add-on” so Western institutions can feel inclusive while they hold all the power, data, and money.

This is the same tactic the WHO and every government table use. Not open rejection.. symbolic inclusion. Advisory seats. Consultation. Cultural flavor. 🤢

Never the handover of jurisdiction.

That’s how they kill our resistance: not by silencing us, but by absorbing us. By flattening our laws, sciences, and medicines into “perspectives” instead of sovereign systems.

I don’t want Two-Eyed Seeing.
I don’t want to be “consulted.”
I don’t want a seat at a table built on our backs, from our pain and suffering.

I want full responsibility, full accountability, full sovereignty for our nations to govern our own health, our own data, our own medicines.

Anything less is recolonization in disguise.

Inclusion without authority is recolonization in “partnership” clothing.

Two-Eyed Seeing cages our knowledge.
Sovereignty is standing on our own ground, with our own eyes, governing ourselves.
Anything less is theft.. with a smile.

The time for “perspectives” is over. We don’t need to be invited into our oppressors’ frameworks. We are building our own. Full systems. Full jurisdiction. Full sovereignty.

TRC? The most hilarious non-holiday. A day off for oppressors to celebrate while our people are still buried alive in their systems.

World Health Organization (WHO) .. until your “dialogue” is to learn how to support sovereignty, I wont be coming to your dialogues.. But I know you can’t support Indigenous sovereignty...Sooooooooooo DoD… I’m coming for You. 😈

lol. Share.

09/24/2025

I just asked Ontario how much Crown land is sold each year & who gets first dibs… let’s see if they answer 👀

Comment if you think Indigenous Communities are notified 😅

09/10/2025

I’m looking for Indigenous developers — coders, designers, tech builders.

We’re about to launch something big.
Something that’s never been built before.
Something by us, for us.

If you’re Indigenous and in tech (frontend, backend, full-stack, devops, design, all of it) — I want to hear from you.

DM me or tag someone.

This is going to be different.

06/11/2025

Friends!

This is going to be a blast, I had a little rehearsal last week for this event and its going to be AMAZING! To connect people to Creation, to see Anishinaabe knowledge as the key that unlocks a good life, to see relationships and reciprocity as requirements. Such an amazing opportunity, I am going to have so much fun with this one.

I will be sharing all kinds of our amazing Anishinaabe Mashkikii Aadiziwin, over 2500 already registered, lets share it up and make this event one of their most attended events!

Trees do more than grow—they heal. Discover their medicinal gifts and explore the human responsibilities rooted in Anishinaabe knowledge at our free virtual event on June 12. https://brnw.ch/21wTiYc 🌳✨

06/01/2025

Can't shut up about this — our traditional oral care is WILDLY effective and backed by both science and generations of practice.

We don’t floss. Flossing was actually never even on WHO guidelines and removed from the US guidelines in 2016 due to a complete lack of evidence. It remains a controversial topic.

We use chewing sticks. The funny part, there is a far larger body of evidence supporting chewing sticks then floss.

Not just any stick only 'gifted' species — willow, birch, alder, dogwood sometimes even hazel — chewed on one end until it frays into a tough little wooden brush. Then we use that to massage our teeth and gums. Not a quick swipe — but a full, mindful massage. And here’s the wild part:
These sticks aren’t just mechanical.
They're medicine.
• Willow brings salicylates, and other anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, gum-soothing.
• Birch has xylitol, which at chewing stick level concentrations inhibits the growth of cavity-causing bacteria.
• The massage itself increases circulation and lymphatic drainage, supporting healing and gum strength in ways floss never could.
And if you want to level it up?
Add spruce/pine/cedar/fir gum.
Yup. The same sticky golden resin our ancestors chewed like gum. It's antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and full of healing compounds.
We chewed it, yes — but we also used it as a resin tooth balm. Rubbed directly on the gums or packed into damaged teeth. Remineralizarion? Yupp.

This isn’t just hygiene. It’s oral pharmacology.

And it’s not about copying Western routines. It’s about knowing what our ancestors knew — that health isn’t just about removing bacteria. It’s about restoring balance, delivering medicine, and building resilience in the tissues that feed us every day.

This is the stuff I live for.
This is why I do this work.

Let’s remember that our ancestral plant knowledge didn’t stop at teas and poultices — it shaped our bones, our gums, our ability to smile into old age with every tooth still in place, and white.

Our old people are WAY more than a treasure trove of knowledge, they are the keepers of the keys that literally unlock our ability to live. Gichimiigwech for everything they gave us.

05/06/2025

Birders, you are not ready for this.

This isn’t just a walk. This is the most disruptive, mind-expanding birding experience happening during Pelee’s migration festival.. and it's not even on their calendar.. so please share! Lol

Caldwell First Nation is hosting our full series of bird walks during peak migration, and while the park celebrates its usual programming, we're doing something radically different. Our team has been quietly working for years on a project that will change how you think about birds and taxonomy forever.. a living system of Indigenous taxonomy, built through millennia of intimate observation and encoded in the language itself.

You won't find us in the calendar for this year. Our work is supported and promoted by Caldwell First Nation. But the knowledge we’re bringing is internationally recognized, reshaping how taxonomy is understood.. and we’re sharing it all, with those who show up.

Expect bird names that describe behavior, diet, habitat, and soul. Expect to question everything you’ve ever been told about classification. Expect to feel like you just cracked open a door that can never be shut again.

If you’re serious about birds, you need to be there.

Point Pelee National Park Visitor Centre. May 9th at 12pm and may 10th at 10am!!! hosted by CALDWELL FIRST NATION.

Take a break from chasing lifers. You’re about to understand birds. I can't wait to see you all there!!!

04/23/2025

Gaa'aandak bigiiw, Spruce gum, is the strongest oral hygiene tool our people ever used, you need this in your life! (Must share lol)

It's a powerful plaque remover and flosser. It physically scrapes plaque and pulls food from between your teeth

It pulls your teeth apart, healing gums. The jaw movement stimulates the periodontal ligament, pulling new healthy blood into your gums, even bringing immune cells to fight infection (bad breath, decay) and speed healing.

So much saliva = natural mouthwash. Saliva neutralizes acids, kills bacteria, and helps remineralize your enamel and spruce gum turns on saliva production like a faucet! Lol

Resin is antimicrobial. Spruce contains alpha- and beta-pinene, bornyl acetate, and resin acids.. all proven to kill the bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease.

Seals wounds with a coating action that reduces inflammation and protects sores, like a natural barrier that delivers medicine while it shields.

Restores balance by maintaining a healthy pH in the mouth, keeping the terrain right for healing and wrong for decay.

No sugar, no plastic polymers, no endocrine disruptors, no poison. Just wiiiiiild tree medicine.

A legitimate oral hygiene medicine our ancestors used daily.. with mechanisms that match up with modern dental science.

It heals and strengthens while it cleans. It's an art, a practice that has a significant place in daily life. and the best part of all, after just a few minutes of chewing every piece of bigiiw turns purple. And purple is pretty.

Spruce gum isn’t nostalgic, it’s superior.

04/13/2025

Checker outttttt!!!

What a week with UGDSB.

High school can be a tough time—but this group of Indigenous youth? They’re rewriting what it means to grow up grounded.

In just a few short hours, these teens brought back one of our most powerful traditional medicines: an arthritis salve that doesn’t just ease pain—it reverses it.

Yes—reverses it. These students now hold knowledge that puts arthritis into remission—permanently. In a few months, their loved ones will go back to their specialists… and be told there’s no trace they ever had arthritis.
That’s not just healing. That’s reclamation. That’s power.

UGDSB is preparing Indigenous youth for life—through language, culture, and land-based knowledge. This isn’t just education. It’s legacy.



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