By Bryan Eneas

Stanley Mission to Standing Rock with Ricky Sanderson Jr.

Jan 24, 2017 | 4:00 PM

On Jan. 22, after almost two months on the road, the water protectors returned to Stanley Mission. 

Ricky Sanderson Jr, a water protector from Stanley Mission, saw what was happening in North Dakota, on Standing Rock Sioux treaty territory over the Internet. He was motivated to join his fellow protectors in their fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

He made a rather unorthodox decision to walk between Stanley Mission and Standing Rock through a Saskatchewan winter. During his walk, he said he experienced many ups and downs along the way.

“There was days out there I wanted to quit,” Sanderson said. “I was starting to think about school… but I started thinking this is more important than school right now, we need this water to survive.”

The group had numerous encounters with law enforcement along their journey.

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The department has come under fire by multiple human rights organizations for their handling of the Standing Rock gathering. Police have used fire hoses against the water protectors in sub-zero temperatures and have been accused of using excessive force against people in prayer or peaceful protests.

On the trip Sanderson said he got to meet his adoptive grandfather, Arvol Looking Horse for the first time. Looking Horse is the nineteenth generation keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, a sacred artifact to the Lakota people.

Sanderson said his grandmother Shirley adopted Looking Horse into the family.

“She takes him as a brother, and his wife too, she takes her as a sister,” Sanderson said. “He’s a really good man.”

Sanderson said he gifted Looking Horse with a ribbon shirt to ask permission to travel on Sioux lands on behalf of the walkers.

One of the biggest things the group was looking forward to was crossing the Canada/U.S. border. Sanderson said the walkers were worried they would be turned away, but were able to successfully cross on foot using their status cards.

There were low times for the group as well. Sanderson said they experienced racism in Canada and in the United States. There were close calls with traffic along the highways, along with insults and offensive gestures from passers-by, but the group continued on.

“We just ignored it. We always said we were gonna pray for them,” Sanderson said. “Maybe they just don’t understand why we’re doing (the walk).”

Members of the group said the real journey has just begun. Now, they will be sharing their stories with schools in North-central Saskatchewan in the hopes of motivating youth to stand up for their water.

Bryan Eneas is paNow’s Indigenous and northern reporter. He can reached by email at: Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca or tweet him @BryanEneas