Our spirits Connect with Moosewah
Reconnection with cultural teachings is deeply healing for our spirits, and ensures we are sustaining traditions and knowledge for future generations. Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) supports Healing Justice activities like the Hide Camp hosted by J-Shine Design because they are profound reflections of the strengths found in our past, present and futures. ICA finds significant importance in offering opportunities to engage and connect with community-led cultural activities that further propel Indigenous learning, healing and rekindling of kinship. ICA is proud to support projects that aim to provide low barrier, enriching experiences that encourage Indigenous peoples to spend their time and energy with important traditional teachings that truly reflect and honor Indigenous lifeways.
Alongside the City of Edmonton, ICA had the privilege of supporting this project and immersing ourselves in the experience. We witnessed a courageous group of individuals come together to use our bodies, collective knowledge and curious spirits to heal through the process of hide tanning. In just six days, laughter, storytelling, and shared effort transformed a group of strangers into a close-knit family.
Introductions Lead to Lasting Relationships
From August 27 to September 1, 2025, Healing Through Moose Hide Tanning was organized by Jess Sanderson-Barry (J-Shine Design), where Jess, Brenda Lee and Peggy Lee led participants in the many steps of Moose Hide Tanning. Healing Through Moose Hide Tanning was hosted in Heartland, Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton.) Thirty participants from across Alberta gathered to share the experience of connecting with mooswah.
Fleshing,stretching, scraping and smoking -, working with hides calls for immense love, patience, generosity, labour, and care. Observing this collective dedication to handle hides and each other with care, and witnessing the transformation of acquaintances into family was an honour. It’s heartwarming to see so many Indigenous people eager to reclaim cultural practices like hide tanning.
Fleshing,stretching, scraping and smoking -, working with hides calls for immense love, patience, generosity, labour, and care. Observing this collective dedication to handle hides and each other with care, and witnessing the transformation of acquaintances into family was an honour. It’s heartwarming to see so many Indigenous people eager to reclaim cultural practices like hide tanning.
J-Shine is a master of her many crafts, and an inspiring leader in her community. ICA is honoured to support her mission to empower Indigenous peoples through moose hide.. In addition to teaching hide tanning she is a skilled artisan who creates beautiful jewelry, artwork and facilitates workshops locally. You can learn more about J-Shines ambitions of establishing a permanent camp here:
A Week of Learning, Healing, and Connection
The week was filled with more than just hide tanning. Elders, knowledge keepers and participants gathered for storytelling sessions. Each day began and ended with a circle – offering time to reflect, smudge, pray and give thanks to the Creator. These moments helped ground everyone in a shared purpose: to reconnect nature and our spirit.
While J-Shine facilitates, plans and organizes each hide tanning camp, it’s up to each participant to take responsibility for learning, engaging and contributing the efforts that makes each camp successful. We are entering these spaces with so much vulnerability, whether that is our emotions, the unknown, healing trauma’s and J-Shine has done an incredible job of welcoming each individual in a safe and understanding state of mind. When we are met with an immediate respect, especially from a facilitator, we are encouraged to bear our vulnerabilities with comfort.
With the amount of labour that goes into the treatment of these hides, having this many participants is crucial in taking care of the hides and for each other. Community is such an integral part of this process. We cared for each other the same way we cared for the mooswah – with love, generosity, gratitude, and grace.
While J-Shine facilitates, plans and organizes each hide tanning camp, it’s up to each participant to take responsibility for learning, engaging and contributing the efforts that makes each camp successful.
We are entering these spaces with so much vulnerability, whether that is our emotions, the unknown, healing trauma’s and J-Shine has done an incredible job of welcoming each individual in a safe and understanding state of mind. When we are met with an immediate respect, especially from a facilitator, we are encouraged to bear our vulnerabilities with comfort.
Reflections on What We Leave These Spaces With
J-Shine’s Healing Through Moose Hide Tanning camp offers much more than a space to learn a new skill. It provides an opportunity for collective healing, cultural sharing and new relationships. The teachings, stories, and relationships built during those six days will ripple far beyond the camp itself – strengthening our communities and spirits, while planting the seed for necessary foundations so that participants can take their skills and potentially even bring hide tanning back to their own families, homefires and communities. By supporting community leaders like J-Shine Design and creating opportunities for Indigenous peoples to reconnect with land, culture, our spirits and each other, we help build lasting strength and confidence among our communities. Cultural revitalization through camps like this ensures that traditions are not only remembered but lived, loved, and passed down for generations to come. Supporting Projects like Healing Through Moose Hide is bigger than preserving culture, but it is also about continuing to build the worlds we want to live in.
Call to Action: Support J-Shine Designs
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Support J-Shine’s Hide Land: A gathering place for Continued Hide Tanning:
