What Did Not Reach Us
Why Tell the Story of the March
You can’t replicate a ninety-four-mile walk — but a story can open a door.
Why Write About the March?

Knowledge cannot be transferred by reading text

Knowledge cannot be transferred from reading text. The March is an example of how knowledge begins to be transferred. It was designed for this very purpose: to provide the extended time required for a channel to begin to open between Native and non-native people — for the critical relationships to develop.

But you cannot walk ninety-four miles with Native and non-native people by reading about it.

So why write about something no one can replicate?

What a story can do

A story cannot transfer the knowledge itself — but it can do four things that matter. Tap a card to open it.

The question to carry
“May I see it?”  —  instead  —  “What is being asked of me, now that I know?”

Ready to answer that question for yourself?  

Find Your Own March

Build your first step

The content of the March can’t be copied, but the pattern can. Answer four short prompts and this will assemble your own doable first step — a door, and a way to walk through it.

Step 1 · The gap

Find your local silence

Every place has a history that did not reach the people who live there — something specific and nearby you were never taught. Name one.

e.g. “Whose land my town sits on, and the treaty that took it” · “A boarding school that once operated near here” · “A community that was removed from this valley.”
Step 2 · The living work

Find the living work near you

Indigenous-led work is usually closer than we know. Name a nearby Native-led organization, gathering, or land project — or a place to start looking. Learn whose land you’re on at native-land.ca.

e.g. a local Native-led nonprofit, a powwow or ceremony you’ve been invited to, a community farm or land-back project.
Step 3 · What you bring

Show up in your body

You are needed not as someone with something to atone for, but as someone with something to give. What can you offer? Pick any that fit — and add your own.

Step 4 · The invitation

End with a doable step

Turn it into something you will actually do — small, concrete, with a date. That is what keeps a good intention from becoming a destination.