Saddle Lake Cree Nation family business crafts PPE that honours Indigenous culture
A family business operating out of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, around 125 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, is finding success creating personal protective equipment that draws on Indigenous culture.
The Redcrow family started Kanatan Health Solutions, whose name roughly translates from Plains Cree to mean pure and clean, this summer.
"I felt that if I could do one thing to contribute to the cause during the pandemic, it would be providing protection for Indigenous elders and people to avoid pestilence," Leah Redcrow said during an interview Tuesday with CBC's Edmonton AM.
Redcrow began making her own hand sanitizer in April at a time when it was a scarce commodity. She spent about a month and a half doing research and looking at different chemical compositions.
With a background in cosmetology, Redcrow also aimed to make sure the final product was easy on the skin.
The eventual result was a line of hand sanitizer spray using medical-grade isoprophyl alcohol and featuring the comforting scents of plants at the centre of Cree traditions: sweetgrass, cedar, sage and sweet tobacco.
Redcrow says she wanted something that would make people comfortable and remind them of protection and cleansing.
"Because that's what we utilize the plants for," she said.
The packaging is also written in French, English and Cree syllabic.
Redcrow says including Cree served to promote Indigenous languages to children or people who use it and to cater to elders who would recognize the script.
"All the elders that I've given it to loved it," she said. "I actually converted my mother into a hand sanitizer user and she would never, ever even think about using hand sanitizer."
More PPE to come
With the success of its hand sanitizer spray, Kanatan Health Solutions has expanded its lineup. It is producing patterned masks and is looking at creating a line of disinfecting wipes.
"Those will also have an essence of traditional … ways of life for Cree people," Redcrow said. "So wild plants or our traditional flora that grows locally."
Tasha Power, Redcrow's sister who helped found the company, says they've received an overwhelmingly positive response since starting up.
"Some people are so touched that they're brought to tears by our mission, our vision and what we're trying to do for Indigenous people in Canada," she said.
But Power notes the products are for everyone.
"We want to share our culture as well. We want to promote it and share it as much as possible."
