The Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society has unveiled its traditional ceremonial building and Sweatlodge will be opening on June 18.
The Bent Arrow traditional building and Sweatlodge will provide Indigenous people with a welcoming space that promotes well-being, enriches cultural knowledge, and supports healing journeys. The ceremonial building will offer children, parents, elders, and caregivers access to culturally responsive programs and services. In addition to traditional sweats, the site will be used for workshops, teachings, elder consultations, storytelling, and more to raise awareness and provide cultural support to the community.
Lloyd Yellowbird, the Senior Manager and lead of the project says this Sweatlodge is a place where Indigenous people living in the city can connect with their culture as the building is accessible to urban Indigenous youth and families. All with the goal of fostering a strong connection to cultural resources in the city.
Mosques are being built here, Churches are here. For us Indigenous peoples this is still our land and it will always be our land and so for us to have these lodges in the city it just helps a lot of the people, our own people that are struggling in the city here who have connected to their culture.
In 2016, during Bent Arrow’s first cultural camp, Cheryl Whiskeyjack and Lloyd Yellowbird, along with five other people, proposed the idea of building a Sweatlodge on their property in Edmonton.
Yellowbird stated that the planning took longer than expected. In 2018 Bent Arrow met with the Edmonton Public School Board about the feasibility of having a Sweatlodge on the grounds of Parkdale School, where Bent Arrow’s head office is. There was a thorough process to go through before the idea was solidified.
Quotes were given to Bent Arrow for $155,000. However, when the pandemic hit, prices rose to $230,000. In March 2022, they kicked off a campaign to fundraise the remaining $75,000. With the help of the community, they successfully reached their goal.
Because of delays the construction of the Sweatlodge and ceremonial building did not begin until September 2023. The final construction took 9 months and over 6 years of planning to make it a reality.
Already a lot of people are emailling us asking “when is your lodge going to be built” Yellowbird said. So they’re really looking forward to it and also the name “Bent Arrow” we’ve been around since 1994 so we’ve really shown the community that we are very consistent providing services for them and for everyone else. We are really looking forward to it, I can’t wait. It’s a dream that has really now become a reality for us. – Lloyd Yellowbird, Senior Manager and lead of the Sweatlodge project.
The ceremonial building and sweatlodge is set to open on June 18. There will be an opening ceremony acknowledging the funders who donated as well as a sweat taking place around 5pm. Yellowbird said the elder stated it will be for the people that are invited if they want to attend.
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