BOOK REVIEW

Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg

This is our Territory

KIRK WINTER

This 126-page primer, written by Trent University professor and respected elder of the Mississauga Curve Lake First Nation, Gidigaa Migizi (Doug Williams), is essential reading for anyone in Kawartha Lakes trying to gain a better understanding of the history, culture and injustices experienced by of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg people.

Migizi skilfully combines the history of his people with his experiences growing up and learning about the land and culture from two great-uncles, Madden Taylor and James Makoons Taylor.

Migizi’s primary goal of showing that Indigenous knowledge is just as important as Western knowledge is at the core of this publication, and the book does an admirable job of drawing non-Indigenous readers into the stories that are pillars of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg history. Migizi shares with readers that the only way to keep the stories of his people alive is through the transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next.

He credits his two great-uncles with making sure he knew the stories of his great-grandparents, and how those stories put the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg squarely in the middle of virtually every important event that has happened in Ontario over the last 10,000 years.

Migizi details the history of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg people in settling huge swaths of Ontario, their contact with European settlers, the upset caused by the American War of Independence and the role of First Nations soldiers in the War of 1812. Migizi provides much detail

Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg: This is our Territory

Gidigaa Migizi is now available at Kent Bookstore in Lindsay.

about the treaty of 1818 that began the “dispossession, settlement, development and disease” that would pummel the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg people, culminating with the crippling Williams Lake Treaty of 1923 that forced Migizi’s people onto reserves and jeopardized their ability to hunt, fish and live in the manner they had been accustomed to for millennia.

Migizi’s recounting of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg losing control of sacred sites like Kinomaagewapkong, known to settlers as the Peterborough Petroglyphs, is heartbreaking. The Province of Ontario has desecrated the site in multiple ways, ignoring the pleas and wishes of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg people.

Gidigaa Migizi has admirable skill as a storyteller and writer. This excellent book is highly recommended.

Schmale says he’d love to see ‘partnership’ with Indigenous people

Some members of the House of Commons are content to serve on the back benches of parliament and put in their time serving the needs of their constituents. Some are looking for more responsibility and a seat at the table where decisions are being made.

Haliburton-Kawartha-Brock MP Jamie Schmale said he is excited not only to still be serving his constituents, but to also serve as the shadow minister for Crown-Indigenous relations in Ottawa.

“The relationship between the Crown and Indigenous people is strained. We need to let the communities decide their own future, not Ottawa.”

“I love my position (in the shadow cabinet). I was responsible for the same portfolio under former leader Andrew Scheer. It is something I am passionate about and something that deserves additional attention,” he said.

“Our platform in the next election will reflect this new priority on Indigenous relations,” Schmale said. “It is clear that the status quo is not working. The relationship between the Crown and Indigenous people is strained. We need to let the communities decide their own future, not Ottawa,” the MP said.

“If I were king, I would love to see the Indian Act scrapped over a 10- to 15-year time period while Indigenous people are getting ready to take over responsibility for their futures,” Schmale said. The MP said if he were ever to become the minister responsible, his job would be to “make the department irrelevant.”

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