‘It’s medicine:’ Indigenous cultural space dedicated to hide tanning set to open in 2026

Work has begun on a collaborative project in the Pointe-Saint-Charles district of Montreal, where a space will be dedicated to the practice of traditional hide tanning, an ancestral art passed down from generation to generation.

Led by the Indigenous collective of Buckskin Babes – Ionkwatia’tarò:ron Park will become a vibrant center for cultural transmission, training, and creation, which is said to be a first of its kind in Montreal and made up of Indigenous artists and artisans.

Amanda Lickers of the Buckskin Babes and Brooke Rice of Kahnawake grassroots organization Tkà:nois – both say this is a first of its kind in Montreal for the traditional practice.

“It’ll create a holistic wellness space for our people to gather, urban folk, rez folk, you know, just a gathering space for all of us,” Rice said.

“It’s just nice to have a space where people know they can come. They’re welcomed, it’s accessible, it feels like home and it’s permanent.”

With construction starting a few weeks ago, the space will host various community events thanks to its facilities: a gazebo, a traditional fireplace, and display walls for Indigenous artwork. Additionally, a wooded area will be created with benches and hammock stands, as more than 1,330 plants will be planted, including around 50 trees.

Lickers explained that the current location was an old CN railroad, which has left construction decontamination efforts ongoing for the soil, saying that the City has been committed to revitalizing the area. She explains that the location of being next to Bâtiment 7, which is an area dedicated to shared spaces, is no coincidence. She details that they’ve been hide-tanning there since 2020.

“It takes many hands to do this work, and there’s a lot of people who are behind this or are not even here with us at the moment, and I can’t take credit for all of that myself,” she said.

“It really visualizes the fact that this is unseeded territory and this is still Onkwehonwe territory. So I like to see that representation of our practices being done wherever we are.”

Lickers and Rice explain that the process of hide tanning involves taking the skin from an animal and, through a process, they then turn it into leather. They explain that it is a respect-based approach that’s sustainable and is considered zero waste.

“Hide tanning is beautiful, it keeps the spirit of the animal alive through medicine pouches, our moccasins, and we get to adorn with beautiful outfits,” Rice said.

Rice explained that Buckskin Babes began at Concordia University in the Indigenous Student Centre, where students began discussing their traditional practices. She says it was then that, through the amalgamation of like-minded people coming together, produced this initiative was produced.

“Once we tan the hides, it’s a long process where we take the brains, we make a brain paste, and there’s like Indigenous science where there’s just the right amount of enzymes and fat in the animal’s brain to tan their hides, and then we smoke the hides, so that’s why fire is such a key element.”

Both explained that having a traditional fireplace is not only crucial for the practice, but also for connection to the environment. Benoit Dorais, Mayor of the Sud-Ouest Borough, and representatives of the City of Montreal say this new space represents a strong gesture toward the recognition of Indigenous cultures, along with the preservation of ancestral knowledge.

“Our teams and the Buckskin Babes collective have embarked on this co-creation process with ambition and enthusiasm, and the final result will live up to expectations,” Dorais said.

“For a lot of folks, you have to leave the city to have a fire, even that alone, the ability to have the smell of the fire on your clothes, it feels really good,” Lickers said.

“I really enjoy that there’s going to be a fire. Fire is so important it helps to alchemize and transform things,” Rice added.

“It’s medicine. It’s ceremony.”

Lickers ads that this also helps bring different nations together, like Haudenosaunee, Algonquin, Cree, Inuit, Naskapi, and Innu. Most importantly, there could be hide donations from hunters across Quebec.

“[Hunters] They always try to donate hides to us for sure, and people wanna learn, and especially the some of the work, especially that Brooke is doing too in Kahnawake and really visualizing that utilization of the animal and making that knowledge accessible to the community,” Lickers said.

“People wanna do it. They feel proud to do it, and they’re excited to learn.”

With the space being in an urban setting, Rice discussed the importance of learning and becoming better settlers and allies for Montrealers through this process, reminiscing about the traditional Haudenosaunee teachings of the Two-Row Wampum. She reminds us that the Two-Row Wampum belt treaty is of peace, friendship, and mutual respect between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and European nations.

The future site is expected to be completed by spring 2026. Rice and Lickers say they envision a space that represents Indigenous people, that is accompanied by medicines with a lot of greenery and colours of flowers. They add that if there is any philanthropic interest in participating or learning more, they reach out to them through social media.

“I think it’s a good opportunity, especially since it’s such a gentrified area where these people have probably never maybe spoken to a native person or interacted with one,” Rice said.

“It’s a good way for them to know that we’re still here to get educated and to maybe advocate for us in different spaces and get involved in some of our practices.