Crow Shield Lodge: a space for healing without barriers

Tucked away in a wooded area in New Hamburg is Crow Shield Lodge, an Indigenous land-based education and healing space with a mission to ‘walk alongside those in need of healing.'

“We want the lodge to be an experience, not just a place, but a place of belonging and connection. When you come here, it is a circle where everyone is equal and everything else is left outside,” said Clarence Cachagee, founder of Crow Shield Lodge.

“We have everything from our Mother Earth. Our connection to the land is so important. To be able to give this to individuals who are broken and in need of healing, this is a space where there is unconditional love and no barriers.”

And the need for healing grows.

“The need is so big, we are currently looking to find a second site. There shouldn’t be any barriers for those wanting to heal,” Cachagee said.

Crow Shield Lodge will celebrate it’s first anniversary in June. It is currently accepting bookings two to three months in advance.

The lodge was originally located in Guelph. But Cachagee, after connecting with Jennifer Pfenning, an organic farmer and Wilmot township councillor, the lodge was moved to Waterloo Region.

Pfenning offered Cachagee land for the lodge at no cost.

Today, the search for a second location is underway.

“We’ve started pursuing and talking to people about a second site. We are in talks with the Region of Waterloo, the City of Cambridge, and property owners,” Cachagee said.

“We can accommodate 20 to 30 people at any given time,” said Bob Nally, treasurer at Crow Shield Lodge.

“The lodge offers a retreat and respite at a time of recovery and restoration. The demand to participate in the teaching and healing is huge.”

Crow Shield Lodge is built upon four pillars: education, healing, reconciliation, and land stewardship.

The lodge offers a number of programs and experiences including traditional doctoring for holistic wellness, purification ceremonies, a sweat lodge, a teaching lodge, naming ceremonies, a fasting camp, ceremonies to acknowledge and honour relations and various workshops.

“We have schools and church communities of all denominations come out. Community organizations, councils and councillors have also visited the lodge. Indigenous groups in the region come here regularly. This is for ‘all’ people. It really is incredible,” Nally said.

“Diverse groups are coming together to be on the land, and when they do, they are transformed.”

Transformation is something Cachagee can personally relate to.

“I believe I was gifted a second chance at life and my creator gave me the second chance to instill positive change,” Cachagee said.

He was separated from his family in the Sixties Scoop, when an estimated 20,000 Indigenous children were placed in foster care with white families.

Growing up in Waterloo Region, Cachagee said that eventually he had to leave everyone he was connected to, leading him on a path to addiction and homelessness.

“When I came to terms with my brokenness, it was about getting rid of the shame. Brokenness, it should not define you,” Cachagee said.

He attended a local addiction treatment program and found healing in Indigenous-based practices.

Now, a resident of Cambridge, Cachagee is proud to reconnect with his own culture from Chapleau Cree First Nation.

He currently works as an Aboriginal Services Coordinator at Conestoga College and continues to engage with his community through land-based teaching and healing as an Indigenous community educator.

“Today, to be broken, is to be ordinary,” Cachagee said.

He said that learning about the truth for non-Indigenous people, is all part of the healing process.

“The inter-generational trauma from residential schools, lives on. We want to help people to break free and to answer three questions: Who am I? Why am I? and what is my purpose in life? It is about helping feed their spirits, to give them something, a release,” Cachagee said.

“We have to go backwards before we can go forwards. Our relationship is important for new beginnings. Nature teaches us to live in harmony, with the land and with each other. The lodge is spirit led. There is the spirit of the people, the land and our ancestors, we are all connected.”

Nally said the lodge is a place of belonging.

“It’s a beautiful thing, to find a place of healing, to share and connect. Today, there is an opportunity to learn, right here and right now. We need to learn, with deep partnership and respect, before we can move forward together. The first step is to come and learn. It’s amazing how much people do not know.”

The long-term vision for Crow Shield Lodge is to have a permanent healing centre.

“We have plans in the future, for a place where people can stay and heal. This is the bigger vision,” Nally said.

Crow Shield Lodge is currently accepting donations towards building a permanent facility.

“But right now, we want another lodge to help meet the current needs for people in Waterloo Region,” Cachagee said.

Cachagee said that when people build together, beautiful things happen.

“And when we have a place where we can come together, that is reconciliation,” Cachagee said.

“The time is ripe now. People are in need of healing. They need to unpack. At Crow Shield Lodge, we don’t call people out, we call people in.”

For more information about Crow Shield Lodge, visit here.