June 2007 Edition

Historic Three Fires Confederacy Gathering to be held in August

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in partnership with Garden River Ojibway Nation, Three Fires Society, Shingwauk Education Trust, the Union of Ontario Indians, and Algoma University College (Algoma U) announced May 18th that an historic gathering of the Three Fires Confederacy will take place on the traditional lands in Garden River, just east of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on August 20-26, 2007. As many as five thousand Anishinabek citizens, from both sides of the US-Canada border, are expected to attend the gathering.

“It is time we gather as a Nation,” said AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, an Anishinabe from Sakgeeng, Manitoba. “The Three Fires is a part of our traditional form of government that will allow us to determine our own future and contribute to a better life for our people. We will set the agenda for ourselves as a nation.”

The Anishinabek is the nation and people known also as the Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi who together form the Three Fires Confederacy. Historically, the tribes met regularly for social, spiritual, military and political purposes.

“The Three Fires Confederacy gathering will be a significant step toward re-asserting our nationhood as Anishinabek people,” said Grand Council Chief John Beaucage, leader of 43 member First Nations of the Union of Ontario Indians. “We will come together to share and learn from one another and rekindle those fires of that long lost brotherhood we’ve had among our own people from across Turtle Island.”

The last meeting of the Three Fires Confederacy gathering was held in Garden River in 1991.

“As a direct descendant of Chief Shingwauk, signatory to the 1850 Robinson-Huron Treaty and traditional leader of the Three Fires Confederacy, I am truly honoured to be hosting this momentous gathering once again in our traditional territory of Ketegaunsee-bee,” said Chief Lyle Sayers. “We extend a warm welcome to all to come and visit our community this summer.”

According to Grand Chief Eddie Benton-Banai of the Three Fires Confederacy Mide Society (USA/ Canada) the Three Fires gathering comes from the seven prophesies of the Anishinabe peoples, the original people of this part of the world.

“Someday we will look back and search for the teachings and way of life that prevailed for thousands of years, before discovery,” said Benton-Banai. “The time and opportunity to hear, and learn from those teachings is now.”

This announcement is an example of the shared commitment among all partners involved in the Three Fires Confederacy gathering.

“Our students,” said Dr. Celia Ross, President of Algoma University College, “Are the reason why we are a part of this wonderful partnership. Recently, a group of 25 students attended the Midewiwin Lodge in Bad River, Wisconsin, and brought back a true sense of the spirit and intent of Chief Shingwauk’s vision. We are honoured to be part of this historic gathering.”

The first two days of the gathering will bring together leadership and citizens and will be devoted to sharing the history and the protocol of the Three Fires Confederacy. It will provide leadership an opportunity to discuss important issues such as relationships with governments, border crossing issues, water and Great Lakes management.

The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada.

Historic birch bark canoe glides back into Canada centuries later

By Jennifer Ditchburn

A majestic birch-bark canoe has glided its way back to Canada after nearly 200 years, helping to tell not only the story of Aboriginal ingenuity but also of a Schindler-like hero of the Irish famine.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization put the weathered, six-metre long canoe on display May 22nd for the first time. The public can watch conservators busily trying to restore it over the course of the summer, before it is shipped back to its current owners at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

Also on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization is this early 1900s birch bark canoe, shows the same “survival of indigenous knowledge”.

The watercraft could be the oldest of its kind in the world, the work of Maliseet craftsmen living near Fredericton in the early days of the British colony.

Because it was hung high above a damp stairwell in the Irish university’s museum for so many years, the birch bark, cedar ribs and spruce roots that keep it together, remained moist and intact. Up close, you can still see the delicate lines of the birch tree’s bark. Others of its vintage would have disintegrated long ago.

Dr. Kathryn Moore, a geologist from Ireland’s national university, made it her personal mission over the past several years to piece together the life of the vessel spanning centuries. She sought out head conservator Paul Lauzon from the Canadian museum to check out the canoe in 2003, and under his guidance it was brought back to Canada early this year.

The stories that have sprung up from the canoe are the stuff of good historical TV dramas.

The Maliseet built the unusually long canoe in the early 1820s, perhaps for a figure of importance such as New Brunswick Governor Sir Howard Douglas. It was likely used to cruise up and down the St. John River, transporting furs or perhaps arms.

Shortly thereafter, a wealthy Irish landowner arrived in the region for a short stint as captain with the British army regiment stationed in the colony. Stepney St. George, of County Galway, was there long enough to witness the devastating fires that spread between Miramichi and Fredericton in 1825, and to help Sir Douglas with the relief efforts for the estimated 15,000 homeless settlers.
Before leaving, he acquired the canoe – whether he bought it from a person of stature such as Douglas or bought it directly from the Maliseet is unclear. He had it, and two other canoes, shipped home to his family’s historic home, Headford Castle, where Moore believes it was actually used on local waterways.

Two decades later, the Irish countryside where St. George lived would be utterly transformed by famine. While other wealthy landowners turned a blind eye to the plight of the poor, St. George became chairman of a relief committee, bankrupting his ancestral estate by opening soup kitchens on the property and housing those on the brink of starvation. He wrote letters to the British government, vainly asking for help to save more from dying.

“It may well be that Stepney St. George’s experiences in New Brunswick in 1825 may well have informed his approach to tackling the tragedy that happened in 1847 in Ireland,” Moore said. “There are real parallels and links that I have suspected there but I have yet to prove.”

St. George contracted a famine-related disease and died in 1847. Headford Castle was leased by a new tenant, who promptly evicted the poor from the grounds and the canoe, which was given to the university in 1852. It moved around the university through times of upheaval, such as the war of independence, and finally in 2001 was given a closer look. Moore and others noticed it had begun to fall apart, with the help of bugs and nesting pigeons, and wanted to save it. They contacted the Canadian museum for help.

“It’s a symbol of Irish history, it’s a fantastic story,” she said.

For Canadian curator Stephen Augustine, the canoe tells another tale _ that of Aboriginal technical prowess. Augustine, himself a Mi'kmaq hereditary chief from New Brunswick, marvels at how the methods of constructing the canoe stood the test of time.

“It symbolizes for me the survival of indigenous knowledge,” said Augustine, curator of Eastern Maritime ethnology. “It has endured 200 years and this technology and indigenous science attest to how well the indigenous thinking has survived. The idea of it endures, and that’s one of the more poignant aspects for me.”

Restoring the canoe has several challenges, including finding just the right birchbark from New Brunswick to help patch some of the rougher spots. Once the project is finished, the canoe will be shipped back to Ireland where Moore intends to have it exhibited .

Said Moore: “It means so much to local Irish history and Irish-Canadian relations at this point and time, it’s very important for us to have Irish people see and appreciate it.”