Hide tanning camp for 2-spirit youth teaches culture and creates new traditions

Two-spirit Indigenous youth gathered at a park near Barrie, Ont., last week to learn traditional hide tanning techniques. 

Niizh Manidook Hide Camp ran Aug. 7-15 and was hosted by Springwater Provincial Park, which the First Nation operates. Niizh manidook means two-spirit in the Anishinaabe language. 

Sheri Osden Nault, who is Métis with family roots in the Red River area, was one of 40 participants at the camp. Nault uses they/them pronouns. 

Last spring, Nault was contacted by a friend who offered them a deer hide. They thought about trying to learn how to tan hide on their own but then came across a post about the camp.

"Working with my hands is really intuitive for me," Nault said.

"I've been finding the processes are the way I'm good at learning because it's very hands-on."

The hide still had some flesh and fat on it that needed to be scraped off — a process called fleshing. 

Then the hide is soaked in a lye solution, which is a mixture of wood ash and water. This helps the hair to come out easily. 

Nault said the next step was scraping more hair off and also graining the hide to remove any remaining skin. The hide then goes through a softening and smoking stage which involves rubbing it with deer brain mixed with water to break down the membranes and oils. This is repeated a few times before the hide is complete. 

"It's just super nice to have a whole bunch of other queer Indigenous folks around me," they said. 

"At no point in my life, unless someone knows me well, does anyone get my pronouns right. And here most people use they/them pronouns. It's really nice just to feel seen immediately."

The camp was funded through the Ontario Trillium Foundation Youth Opportunity Fund. There were five instructors from different nations, an onsite community care worker and an elder.

Hunter Cassag, who is Georgian Bay Métis and Beze Gray from Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia, Ont. were the coordinators of the camp.

Cassag attended a hide tanning camp with Lutselk'e Dene Nation, NWT.  and wanted to host a hide camp for the two-spirit community in Southern Ontario. 

"It's really important for our youth to have welcoming spaces to find themselves and explore Indigenous roots and traditional arts," said Cassag.

"It's life affirming."

Cassag hopes the people they teach keep practising and bring the tradition back into their communities.

Mary Ann Maiangowi-Manatch, who is from Wikwemikong Unceded Territory but has family from Rapid Lake First Nation, said she has worked with moose and deer hide in her art and wanted to know how it was prepared.

"I almost felt as if it was wrong for me to be spending so much time working on it and spending so much time selling it when I didn't have the full knowledge going into it of how this leather was prepared and all the teachings that are so special to it," she said.

"Now I'm feeling my own hide and it feels so special to me and I feel like it has so much life . . . . It has so much spirit and it's a spirit I want to nurture."

Ter Roy, who is Anishinaabe is from Beausoleil First Nation and Nipissing First Nation, is in her third season of hide tanning and met Cassag through a two-spirit powwow at Springwater in 2018. 

She said the experience has been magical. 

"We're actually revitalizing culture and not only revitalizing it, but creating new traditions for us to carry on as Indigiqueer people."

She said it's nice to see interest around traditional activities in the two-spirit Indigenous community. 

"The snowball is starting to roll and it's changing things," said Roy.

"We don't really see it right now, but we believe in the future we will have actual little youth hide camps throughout all our reserves and it will be something to be proud of."