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The SCHA oversees 14 affiliated
groups in Simcoe County such as the MFFC, the Barrie Historical Society
and Fort Willow. On a limited budget and with the help of a small
but dedicated Organizing Committee, this event took place on Saturday,
September 21, 2002 on the day of the Fall Equinox. About 200 people
attended including members and friends of the affiliated organizations,
the general public, and many families of the Mnjikaning First Nation.
It was a resounding success, made more so by the presence of Ontario's
twenty-seventh Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable James K. Bartleman,
our province's first Aboriginal Lieutenant Governor and a member of
the Mnjikaning First Nation since 1985. [Bartleman's Aboriginal mother
lost her status upon marriage to a White person; he applied to regain
his Aboriginal status under federal Bill C-31.]
Since the BBQ could not
be held under water, we chose the Stephen Leacock Museum grounds as
a setting. The day's official events began at 10 o'clock with the
first of four showings of the Fish Weirs video. However, about 50
people arrived an hour early to participate in an outdoor pipe-teaching
ceremony that was conducted by Ralph King, a member of the Mnjikaning
First Nation and also a fire fighter. The final part of that ceremony,
a prayer to the four directions, was delivered in Ojibway by Merle
Assance-Beedie, an Elder of the Chippewas of Beausoleil First Nation,
member of the MFFC, and member of the Barrie Friendship Centre. Merle
also was one of the storytellers who introduced the third showing
of the videotape.
I had the very great honour
of meeting the Lieutenant Governor as he arrived at the grounds of
the Leacock House with his Aide-de-Camp, Jay Hope, precisely on time
for the luncheon. As he approached the platform for the official speeches,
the Thunder Women and Biidaban Singers from Mnjikaning First Nation,
greeted him with drumming and singing. Also greeting him was Mark
Douglas, a MFFC member whose father Ivan Douglas, a former Chief of
the Mnjikaning First Nation, had been close friends of the Bartleman
family for many years (Figure 4). Our honoured guest described to
us just how appropriate this setting was. He grew up nearby and his
Aboriginal grandmother and two of his aunts worked for the Leacock
family. He spoke eloquently of his Aboriginal heritage and promised
to spread the story of the weirs far and wide in his travels. (The
entire speech is on the SCHA's web site at http://www.simcoecountyhistory.ca)
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