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There is a big job ahead for everyone to learn the truth of our region’s history

To the Expositor:

Sometimes invisibility is a good thing. At other times, it’s not. For instance, I was at an event recently that featured community folks enjoying the mid-September sun. There were craft vendors, a food booth, and information tables.  There were exhibits of tools, machinery, equipment and other souvenirs of everyday life from times past.  These were all very interesting. 

There were descriptions attached to various items that explained what the tool or equipment was used for. Names of zhaaganaash families who lived in certain areas and what they did for a living was helpful in portraying the lifestyles of the past. Old photographs of scenery and of people engaged in different activities served to illustrate the daily realities of the times. The theme extracted from the exhibits was that folks worked hard to make a living and sometimes conditions were tough and unpredictable. Their descendants were the folks at the community event enjoying the weather, the setting and each others’ company. 

It wasn’t until after I left the event that I realized that we (Anishinaabek, Indigenous peoples of this region) were “invisibilized” again.  Reflecting upon what I saw at the community event, on the one hand having a snapshot of what life was like on Manitoulin after 1862, one could easily be deceived into thinking that there were, and there are, no Indigenous peoples on the Island. There was one vague sentence to the effect that Indigenous peoples lived on and around Manitoulin before 1862.  There was no mention of the presence of Indigenous peoples during the previous 9,000 years.  The 9,000 years has been disputed, with some academics positing that Indigenous peoples were on Manitoulin 10,000 years before present.

In contrast, I know of one Anishinaabe community where the written English language history described who the zhaaganaash priests were, who the zhaaganaash Indian agents were, who the zhaaganaash teachers and principals were, how long they stayed in the community, and what their responsibilities were then, the rest of the community history talks about who the Anishinaabe families were, and are, what roles they held in the community, and what people did for a living.

So sometimes what’s missing is truth. In addition to the invisibility that I came away with was the concept that the truth is missing. For example, with reference to the 9,000 years that Indigenous peoples have been on and around Manitoulin Island, one could also dig deeper into finding out more. There is archaeological evidence that states that Indigenous peoples have been in the Americas for between 35,000 and 50,000 years before present. To add to the archaeological evidence, there is the creation knowledge that Indigenous historians hold and share.

The story of a place is not just about what people did in that place. The story is also about how the place came to be, what living beings (animals, fish, birds, underground beings) inhabited that place, what plants, trees, and other vegetation grow in that place. The place and its story is also about who the early peoples were, where they lived, how they lived, what helped them to survive, and what kinds of extra-physical guidance supported them. There is now knowledge about blood memory and how it appears in peoples’ everyday lives. The blood memory helps to explain the sensation when one is in a place where one has never been before that “I’ve been here before.” Blood memory helps to explain the sense of connection, attachment, and belongingness that one feels sometimes when roaming around. Even in cities in North America, where the skyscrapers reach great heights, where the concrete and asphalt are thick and heavy, and where crowds swirl around in their hurry, the blood memory is still there, and one knows that one’s Anishinaabe ancestors are deep underground, beneath all the concrete, metal, and asphalt, still guiding us.

The truth, then, still needs to be told, not in snippets and bits, one day a year. The truth about dispossession of Indigenous peoples from our lands, through theft and expropriation, needs to be spoken aloud. The truth about being removed from family, clan and community to an educational institution to be indoctrinated into a foreign language, foreign religion, and foreign customs needs to be remembered.  The truth about the dismantling of, invalidation of, and disparaging of, Indigenous matriarchs’ roles in leadership, in decision-making, and economic matters needs to be explained. Seeing Indigenous females as less than, lacking, or not “made of stern stuff” is what leads to murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender diverse.

The other word that comes soon after ‘truth’ is ‘reconciliation.’ One definition of reconciliation is this: “the state of being resigned to something undesirable, or the process of achieving this state.”  (Dictionary.com)  Or, reconciliation is a process where the aggrieved party is cajoled into accepting something unacceptable.  

So, what really needs to happen is ‘truth’ and ‘restitution.’ Restitution is “action serving to cause restoration of a previous state” or “the return of objects that were stolen or lost.” I like the term “restitution” much better than the term “reconciliation.” 

There’s a big job ahead of everyone. For some, it’s about learning the truth of the history of this region. For others, it’s about recovering the use of one’s ancestral language. The job is also about exploring the pre-contact technologies that allowed Indigenous peoples to thrive, create city-states, international trading relationships, and trade routes that spanned what is now Sault Ste.  Marie, Ontario all the way to the Florida Keys. Restitution involves land reclamation, the re-building of clans, communities, and nations.

There’s climate change, natural disasters like forest fires, floods, “heat islands,” invasive species (flora and fauna), the housing and homelessness crisis, and on and on.  The remedies for the challenges that we human beings are confronted with involve Indigenous peoples and zhaaganaashak.  

Funny what wandering around at a community event will engender, eh?  Mii sa iw.  

Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat 

Doganing, South Bay, Ontario

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