CEREMONIAL SEMAH NEWS AND UPDATES
Many of you will have noticed that we switched from using the word "Tobacco" to using the word "Semah", the Algonquin word for Tobacco (to honour and acknowledge the territory we are on). There are almost as many words for Tobacco as there are Indigenous nations in Canada. Many of those have a word that stems from/is similar sounding to Sema/Semma/Semah.
Part of the reason we used the word "Tobacco" on our website in the past was because of its commonality. But for this same reason we now wish to create a necessary distinction between the Semah we sell for ceremonial purposes, and the commercial Tobacco sold in other places for recreational use.
We are committed to seeing Semah recognized as a unique, cultural ceremonial item by the colonial government, and to making it more easily available to folks across Canada who are using it in this way.
After many stop-starts, and years of slogging through the muddy waters of legislation surrounding this issue, we are making some progress through the red tape of being able to export to provinces other than Ontario.
Contact us for more details: Semah@tltp.ca