Organizers of this year’s Aamjiwnaang Water Gathering and Toxic Tour of Chemical Valley are preparing to welcome 400 people to the weekend event.

It’s set to begin Friday, Sept. 29, with opening ceremonies at 5 p.m., at the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community centre and continue the following day with classes, ceremonies and events. A walking Toxic Tour is set for Sunday, Oct. 1, through part of Sarnia-Lambton’s industrial area known as Chemical Valley

The water gathering is a free event with camping and food provided at the community centre, with support from sponsor Lush, a British Columbia-based cosmetics company.

“We are focusing around the issues of the water and the environmental struggles we see with the Chemical Valley,” said

Vanessa Gray, with the group Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia Against Pipelines.

“I personally feel that it’s an inherent responsibility for us to remind everyone of the importance and the sacredness of the water, because we are connected through the Great Lakes to one another.”

That connection is “a responsibility that all First Nations and indigenous people hold on to, and that knowledge is passed through generations,” Gray said.

The gathering is an opportunity to learn about and experience “the type of environmental struggle we see here in Sarnia, and that impacts all the Great Lakes,” she said.

Participants are expected from around Ontario, with a bus coming from as far away at Montreal.

Gray said this is the second year a large weekend event focusing on water and the environment has been held, but Toxic Tours of the Chemical Valley industries and similar gatherings have been happening in different forms for approximately six years.

There will be Greenpeace workshops as well as sessions led by elders from Aamjiwnaang and area on the Saturday of the weekend, Gray said.

The Toxic Tour on Oct. 1 will begin at noon from Rainbow Park at the corner of Front and Johnson streets in Sarnia and travel through the industrial area to the First Nation band office.

“I think it’s really eye-opening for people to see that Imperial Oil covers so much ground here, that Aamjiwnaang is so close to a number of different companies working with extremely volatile chemicals,” Gray said.

“These types of chemicals should not be used so close our homes.”

Gray said the impact oil and chemical industries have on the community is something she can talk about and try to explain, “but people don’t understand until they smell what Aamjiwnaang has to smell all the time.”

The gathering is also a way for members of the community to share their experiences of living with industry, she said.

Registration for this year’s Water Gathering and Toxic Tour is available online at aamjiwnaangsolidarity.com.

“It will be very educational and a good time to socialize with people who are also working for environmental justice,” Gray said.

pmorden@postmedia.com