About Us
Canoe Woman Herbs is a family-owned Indigenous business based in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne near the Northern New York/Southern Canada border. We are passionate about promoting natural healing and wellness through traditional medicine.
Alicia Cook (Canoe Woman) grew up learning from her father, who was a Mohawk "Medicine Man". Read more about Alicia below.
Owner
Alicia Cook, Konwahonwihsen, Wolf Clan of the Kanienkehaka Nation, Mohawk
LPN, Master of Traditional Medicine
Alicia graduated from North Country Community College as a Licensed Practical Nurse. At the time of her studies, she realized that she wasn’t a nurse but more of a Doctor. “I needed to get to the root of the problem”. So she integrated knowledge of the human body and herbal support and traditional teachings received from her traditional upbringing. With this dynamic mix, she assists her clients and students in the healing process with herbal remedies and looks at the whole person through mental, spiritual, physical and emotional wellness.
She specializes in teaching about culturally important plants and their uses as food and medicine and she works to promote and protect food sovereignty and traditional plant knowledge. Along the way, she has learned valuable knowledge from respected elders from her community and works towards transfer of knowledge to the younger generation. “We must intertwine and carry forward the knowledge of our traditional wisdom keepers”.
She works close with the Environment Department to help identify traditional medicines that have been contaminated by waste from three major companies in the Akwesasne area with the aim to promote land wellness and cleanup of contaminated areas. “We must always think of the seven generations to come”. With this attitude, Alicia works on planting endangered plants placed on the United Plant Savers list. “Every year, I plant seeds that we may not see for 4 or even 7 years in an effort for our generations to come”.
Alicia has also traveled around the country and internationally teaching natural medicines to neighboring Native communities, herbal symposiums and Universities. “Our Native communities are realizing the importance of plants and the need to reintegrate traditional knowledge of harvesting and using plants again. Through decolonization of our people, we have almost lost our traditional teachings and my aim is to help build that back up. Every grandmother, mother, sister has an inherited right to be able to care for their families using traditional medicines”.