Rocky Boy Eagle Staff event set to right meth

The White Sky Hope Center and other health and wellness programs on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation will be taking part in an Eagle Staff Run and Walk Wednesday morning.

Emery Nault, a preservation specialist with the White Sky Hope Center, a substance abuse treatment center on Rocky Boy, said the Walk and Run is meant to honor those who have been lost to substance abuse and protect the reservation community from the ravages of methamphetamine and opiates.

White Sky, along with Healthy and Safe Choices, the Chippewa Cree Housing Authority and Sustainable Trauma-Informed Care are hosting the event.  

The eagle staff, which is wrapped in bison fur and blessed by spiritual leaders, is a sacred symbol akin to a flag that is often present at tribal ceremonies. It will be passed between reservations, each tying feathers to it representing their tribes and Native people.

Nault said combating addiction is not only physical and emotional, but spiritual, too. He said that for both Natives and non-Natives, faith helps addicts through the recovery.

Dr. Kenny Ryan, a member of a tribal committee tasked with developing in-patient treatment services  on Fort Peck Indian Reservation, was among those who presented members of the Chippewa Cree with the eagle staff at a meth symposium in Billings in May.

Ryan said the eagle staff was given to members of the Chippewa Cree Business Committee and employees from the White Sky Hope Center because Rocky Boy, in November, was the first reservation in Montana to hold a meth symposium.

Runners will meet and begin the event at 8:30 a.m at the Small Communities in the Parker’s School area on the reservation and carry the eagle staff to Box Elder School. Nault said he is still looking for at least six runners and those interested should show at that time.

Community members are invited to gather on Magnolia Street in Sunnyview Village near Stone Child College at about 11 a.m. and walk with the runners for the final 2.2 miles of the route.  

“That last leg, if they want to run it and they feel up to it that is fine, too, but for the community we just want them to walk that last 2.2 miles,” Nault said.

Nault will drive alongside the runners in a vehicle to ensure their safety.

Once the crowd reaches Box Elder School, there may be some speakers and appreciation will be expressed for those who take part. The staff will then be driven to Fort Belknap where they are scheduled to present the staff to members of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation at 2 p.m.   

They will have the staff for a period of time during which they will attach two blessed feathers, one for the Gros Ventre Tribe and one for the Assiniboine Tribe, before it is taken back to Fort Peck. Ryan said he hopes the eagle staff can be taken to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which will be holding a meth symposium Monday, so the Blackfeet can attach feathers to it.