Johnny Abraham

Johnny Abraham is a young man of 19 years old. He’s tall, quiet, and a bit wary of strangers. He has that native aboriginal stand out in a crowd kind of handsomeness to him. I first met him soon after arriving on Victoria Island. When he first heard of walking to Parliament Hill 1500 miles away from his home in the middle of winter to show support to Idle No More and to bring attention to Aboriginal youth across Canada -he thought it was a good idea. His friend, David Kawapit had thought of this and asked Johnny to go along. Johnny was the last one to be asked and he really didn’t think it was going to happen, much less make it that far. As crazy as the plan was, he wanted to join. So the Group of Six now became Seven and they had to wait while Johnny’s Uncle prepared him for his journey.

Johnny had been raised in a series of foster homes and landed at his Uncle’s home not long ago. His parents had broken up when he was young, and after so many foster homes he was happy to go live with a relation. Johnny’s Uncle thought this journey would be good for him and helped him get together all the things he needed for this journey; bedding, pelts, snowshoes, jackets and his anorak. The most important piece of his entire travel pack was his socking hat, a handmade wool hat with two wool socks as ears. Johnny wore this hat the entire journey.

When they first started, the journey was difficult for all of them. Between the cold and the length of the walk in front of them it was hard not to have doubts. The first part of the journey was walking hundreds of miles of through “bush” country. And the funny thing is Johnny walked out of the bush to Parliament Hill to tell everyone present the Bush is the most important place to him and to let him live as he wants to. So the first thing Johnny wants to do is to go back to the bush to learn more of his ways from his elders.

With each step, they came closer to their destination, even if it was the next community miles away. Johnny noticed every time they stopped they gained in strength and in the numbers of walkers. He was happy to see so much support and to have others join them. It motivated him to keep going.

When Johnny Abraham delivered his message on Parliament Hill after walking 1500 miles, he spoke fluently in his own Cree language. He was overcome by emotion and as he spoke and tears flowed down his face. Even with tears in his eyes, he spoke clearly and passionately about things important to him; his son and his culture and traditions. “It’s important to keep our traditions alive. It’s important to keep our culture strong for future generations. I am Cree Inuit. And I want people to know the most important thing to me is my son and that he will have his culture and his traditions alive when he grows. He will be turning 1 year old on April 6.”