Rhonda Donais-Walsh is seen during a visit to La Ronge's Alex Robertson Public Library. (Submitted photo/Roseanne Dery)

By Derek Cornet

reading tour

Storyteller educates local youth on moss bags, Indigenous culture

Jul 18, 2025 | 2:25 PM

Indigenous Storyteller and Cultural Educator Rhonda Donais-Walsh has been in the tri-communities this week, interacting with children and teens.

Her visit is part of the Pahkisimon Nuye?áh Library System’s annual Summer Reading Program Tour. While her tour was meant to include communities such as Beauval, Buffalo Narrows and Île-à-la-Crosse, those dates had to be cancelled.

“Unfortunately, my itinerary with all the places that were set out for the tour, there were evacuations and roads shut down, so I haven’t really left La Ronge,” said Donais-Walsh, who was able to make it to Pelican Narrows on Friday.

“We have been finding different summer programs that I have been going to each day, so I have been sharing my moss bag story, paper folding stories, and even doing a little bit of face painting.”

Donais-Walsh has been a storyteller for more than 30 years and most recently completed an Indigenous Storyteller Residence at the Regina Public Library at the end of April. Prior to the tour, she had only been to Northern Saskatchewan a few times as most of her previous experiences were visiting southern communities.

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“The one [activity] that I came up to do is called Moss Bag Babies and so I teach them how to moss bag, how the moss bag is made, and then how a long time ago before there were houses or anything like when there were just Indigenous Peoples and animals and they lived in teepees and the buffalos roamed,” Donais-Walsh explained.

“The first diapers, I teach about that, about moss and cattails and how that mixture was made and packed around the babies in the moss bag to keep them dry and also prevented diaper rashes. After I do that, I tell a little story about it, and then we make little paper moss bags and cradle boards.”

Donais-Walsh noted Indigenous tradition and oral storytelling are very important when it comes to education young people. She said to keep those aspects of Indigenous life alive, storytellers are needed.

“I had a wonderful time up North. It is pretty unfortunate of the fires and so on. I am really glad I was able to come up, though,” Donais-Walsh added.

“I have met some wonderful people, and I hope maybe in the future I can come up again and maybe tell more stories within the different northern communities.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com