Niibi Center

Please see our beautiful new website for more information about the Niibi Center!

Established as a 501c3 in 2017 by Joseph LaGarde and a group of Anishinaabe elders, the mission of the Niibi Center is to be a catalyst for research, advocacy, and activism, grounded in Indigenous culture and knowledge to protect and advance Anishinaabe prophecy, sovereignty, and cultural survival. 

Niibi Center’s vision is a world where Anishinaabe communities know and understand their language, teachings, and ceremonies to fulfill minobemadziiwiin (the Good Life) and sacred promises and responsibilities for niibi (water) and manoomin (wild rice), and all of nature for future generations. 

The Niibi Center was established to fulfill our prophecy, which designates Anishinaabe people as the caretakers for Manoomin (wild rice) – our sacred food and the cornerstone of our health and culture. Elders have envisioned this center for two decades as the most hopeful tool we have to preserve and revitalize our traditions and culture.

Niibi Center programs are focused on the Anishinaabe people and our own infrastructures, primarily on White Earth and in Minnesota at this time, however we partner with tribes across the Woodlands, including Wisconsin and Canada. Niibi Center programs are designed to be a web of interrelated activities and supports that make revitalization of Anishinaabe culture, language and tradition possible. 

Niibi Center currently has five tracks of interwoven work: 

Ogichidaakweg (Traditional Women) Gatherings

Building curriculum and capacity to facilitate healing of Historical Trauma

Rights of Manoomin research, policy and practice development

Ayaanikeshkaagewaad, a home based Ojibwemowin Immersion program

Water Protectors Support Network