Ahead of the Beyond the Status Quo Summit, on April 9, we’re sharing stories of communities coming together to do things differently in Edmonton. For more information about the summit, click here.

When Edmontonians and travellers enter the city, they can often see churches, mosques and temples. Cheryl Whiskeyjack, Executive Director of Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society, wondered: what if Edmonton’s First Peoples had the same access to spiritual care and community in the city?

This question was the beginning of a journey that resulted in an urban sweat lodge facility holding its first ceremony last year.

“This to me was a really important project to see it come to life,” says Whiskeyjack.  “It’s so important for our folks in the city, and for non-Indigenous people to learn as well.”

The new facility, kihci wahkohtowin ka pesewkamkos, Sacred Family Lodge,finished construction in December 2023 and held its first sweat in June of 2024. But the idea first sprouted a decade ago.

“About ten years ago, when we had our first culture camp we wanted to have a ceremony on site for those four days and that’s where this building idea came from,” says Whiskeyjack.

“If we left that original lodge up all year round it would be vulnerable to the elements, to people. When we had that lodge set up for culture camp we had to have 24 hour security,” she said. “At the end of camp we had to take it down. We had to dig a hole in the ground and replace the sod and everything like it never happened.”

From this first temporary lodge, sprung the idea to create a permanent structure for ceremony.

“In 2021, when the graves were found in Kamloops, there was a real outpouring and outrage in Canada,” says Whiskeyjack. “People were asking, how could this happen in our country? And we had been saying it for years but seeing it on the news every night really got into the national consciousness.”

“There was this outpouring of ‘I want to do better, I want to know more.’ Because of this there was a real uptick in our donations at the time. There were suggestions on social media to donate $215 to an Indigenous organization, so we were just watching our Canada Helps  notifications ring up. Previously, those donations would help us with our everyday operations that fell outside funding contracts. But this uptick was beyond what we’d ever seen so we had to ask, what do we want to do with it and the sweat lodge structure is what we decided on.”

The idea was to create a space In the heart of the city where people can access ceremony without having to leave the city, and without having to be a member of a nation.

“A lot of Indigenous people in Edmonton, they were born and raised here and are not connected to a nation and have to leave and connect to a nation to access traditional ceremony,” says Whiskeyjack.

Around the same time, Lewis Cardinal and others were working to open kihcihkaw askiy, another ceremonial site in the city.

“They  opened up two or three months before we did last year as well, so I feel very proud that there are two places for people to access ceremonies in the city.I think this is the beginning of many to come and I’m starting to hear talks of other organizations that are going to put up lodges in their spaces.”

Because Bent Arrow is located in Parkdale School, making the facility a reality required collaborative work between Bent Arrow, the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB).

“We kind of anticipated a bureaucratic nightmare, but it was so seamless. We did have conversations with EPSB because we’re in their school and they helped us liaise with the city folks and departments because it's something they’re used to doing,” says Whiskeyjack. “They’re used to having these conversations and so our facility management folks from the school board connected us with the proper people so we can have those conversations.”

In the end, the new building was constructed in the exact same location where the temporary lodge was built a decade earlier, when the idea for a permanent building was first born.

Whiskeyjack says they aim to use the site not just for Indigenous peoples to access ceremony, but to connect and share with the settler community as well.

“It brings these teachings to settler folks who don’t have experience with ceremony,” she says.  “Not just  in the sense of ‘here’s ceremony for your clients,’ but also this ceremony is for everybody. There was a logic and a reason behind these ceremonies, and they were about our well being so we are able to not just survive on this land. but thrive on this land.”

“Time and time again I will hear people who will come to ceremony at our culture camp and speak vulnerably about how they’re feeling and try to apply logic to it and say ‘I don’t know why I'm so emotional’.  But that’s because ceremony strips away the bark on us, and gets to the realness of who you are. When people feel vulnerable here, it’s a good vulnerable.”

The space aims to serve everyone who lives in Edmonton, Indigenous and settler alike.

“We’ve always been a call-in organization,” says Whiskeyjack. “We’re very good at calling people out in our society. It creates discomfort, division, nothing good. But calling in creates a safe environment to learn. That’s why we do teaching sweats. We want people to come in and learn. This is not about indoctrination, we want to show people another way to take care of themselves.”

Whiskeyjack is positive that this facility will enable people of all walks of life to engage with community, healing and spirituality on this land, in a good way.

“We have been here for millennia, and we have ways we can share to help everyone be here in a good way. It’s universal.”

Information about ceremonies, teachings and other programming at Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society can be found here.