WHITEFISH FALLS—In a ceremony commemorating the expansion of the Whitefish River First Nation (WRFN) territory to include more of its traditional lands, Whitefish River First Nation chief and council, band and community members and allies gathered at Hilly Acres Camp and Trailer Park, recently purchased by the band.
Knowledge keeper Craig Fox acted as master of ceremonies for the event.
First speaker at the event was Whitefish River First Nation elder Art Jacko, who spoke on the importance of the location in the history of the band and its members—invoking the teachings of the Seven Grandfathers, “The first one was love, respect, wisdom in building honesty and bravery. They’re all in order most important. We had a ceremony to protect the water here in the springtime.”
Elder Jacko noted that, one step at a time, Whitefish River “is getting our land back.”
photos by Michael Erskine
“My spirit name is Rain Man,” shared WRFN Ogimaa Rodney Nahwegahbow. “I’m gonna try and hold off on the rain.” Ogimaa Nahwegahbow said that he is of the Wolf Clan and “proud to represent Whitefish River on this very significant day.”
“I would like to take a moment to acknowledge our brothers and sisters in the west who are struggling as a result of the series of wildfires that are being currently displaced, so hold them in your prayers that they may be able to return to their home safely,” he said. “I want to thank everybody for coming here, including Mayor Al MacNevin from Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands for coming out and Lake Huron Regional Chief Scott McLeod.”
Ogimaa Nahwegahbow acknowledged the WRFN eagle staff and drum group, Island Boys.
“This is a proud day for our people, the people of WRFN,” said Ogimaa Nahwegahbow, “because we are in possession of our original land, a part of the land we stand on today, part of our vast territory we called home long ago. Our people thrived on this in a migratory lifestyle, moving freely in a seasonable fashion within our fishing grounds, planting and harvesting, hunting, trapping. These are the activities that our people partook in. We were only displaced to make way for the treaties and the settler interests and mining and forestry.”
The people of WRFN under treaty remain as custodians of the land, “despite legislations like Bill 5 as recently passed by Ontario. We remain stewards of our land. We look to protect its rights. It is our hope that this acquisition, this new business, will help flourish and enhance this community, and also to celebrate this reparation and homecoming of our people, back to our most treasured homelands and our locations.”
“Anybody who knows me knows that I use the term ‘journey’ a lot,” he said. “It’s only because it represents all of us in the time that we spent together, and we will travel together. I want to recognize our close neighbours and good citizens of Whitefish Falls, especially the Bond family, who have been the most recent caretakers of this business. Like many of our members, I grew up here. I fished here, I swam, we got smelts here. I even worked in this area while serving with the Ministry of Natural Resources during the 1980s. I helped with the pickerel restocking program here, a project of the Whitefish River First Nations Lands Department that continues that same effort today.”
“I was honoured when (Regional Chief) Linda (Debassige) asked me to fill in for her here today,” said Huron Region Chief McLeod. “I was more than happy because this is the kind of good work that we do in supporting our nations. It’s a breath of fresh air, a mental health exercise to do this because, as leaders, we’re always fighting negative battles. And this one here makes me feel good inside. It’s not a frustrating meeting that I’m coming to. It’s somewhere where I can come and celebrate with a bunch of people who have the same thing in common as me, and they’re really enjoying getting their territorial lands back and looking towards the future in a good way.”
Following the speeches, a grass dancer performed a symbolic flattening of the grass in front of the podium, followed by a jingle dress dance of healing.
Attendees were invited to explore the campground trailer and cottages, but admonished not to go knocking on the doors of the campground residents. The band intends to continue operating the campground and envisions investing in its upkeep and upgrades.
Rumours of the band purchasing the nearby Red Dog restaurant are somewhat premature, noted Ogimaa Nahwegahbow, although he did not rule out such a purchase in the future.
