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To accompany its Mission
Statement, the MFFC formulated three main objectives, which were adopted
in 1999. The objectives of the MFFC are:
- To participate in the
preservation and protection of the Mnjikaning Fish Weirs National
Historic Site at the narrows between Lakes Couchiching and Simcoe.
- To encourage and foster
an understanding and awareness of the site and of its importance
to the native cultures that existed here for thousands of years,
and to build on this understanding in order to create a closer harmony
among all cultures through the development of an interpretive/learning
centre.
- To conduct educational
seminars for the public and teaching sessions for school children
about this meeting place of fish and people and about the spirituality,
technology, social organizations and activities of the people who
gathered at this sacred site. (Mnjikaning Fish Fence Circle: Objectives,
1999)
In 2001-2002, to realise
these objectives, the MFFC members commissioned three young men from
the Mnjikaning community to make a videotape that would educate the
general public and meet the requirements of the “new”
educational curriculum in Ontario. This video, entitled “Journey
to the Fish Weirs”, contains film of Parks Canada's underwater
archaeologists on-site and a number of story-tellers, singers, drummers
and artists who narrate the history of the weirs from different individual
perspectives. An event was needed to be the launch pad for the public
release of the video. The request to MFFC from the Simcoe County Historical
Association (SCHA) to host its Annual Fall Barbecue and Gathering,
was the perfect opportunity.
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