Tradition revived for treaty day

For Clint Perreault of Couchiching, it is a day to be proud.
Perreault was one of the hundreds of people who took part in the “Treaty Days Celebration” yesterday, which also continues again today.
Hosted by the Naicatchewenin, Nicickousemenecaning, Couchiching, and Stanjikoming bands, the celebration honours the signing of Treaty #3 on Oct. 13, 1873, which affects 28 First Nation communities over 55,000 square miles.
“It means when we signed the treaty, we got our rights, our freedoms,” Perreault said. “It gave us some recognition as a people.
“It will give [my son] something he can look at,” he added.
“It’s celebrating its history and celebrating the relationship between the native people of this area and the government of Canada,” noted Randy White, who hails from the Whitefish Bay area.
“When the government of Canada did sign the treaty, they did view the native people as a government prior to [the European] arrival,” he remarked.
Perreault said this was the first year the bands gathered in one place to celebrate the treaty and receive their $5 annuity payment from the government.
But one elder, who asked not to be named, remembered a time when all the bands in the area–not just four–met at the Nanicost grounds for the treaty.
“They’ve been doing this years before now, they just didn’t continue,” he said. “Somewhere around 1950, they cut it out.”
He said the Treaty Days celebration was a time for gathering, and that it was nice to see the people of the different bands get together.
“By rights, they should have all 10 bands of this region come here,” he stressed. “Should make it one day [for all of us].”
Willie Wilson, a former area tribal chief, said the Treaty Days celebration just might become that.
He noted the Nanicost grounds was a traditional meeting places for nearly all native bands in Northwestern Ontario. And back when the treaty was signed, nearly all 28 bands came there for Treaty Day.
“The community used to celebrate that day,” he said. “They want to revive that. It’s been a long time but we’re off to a good start.”
Wilson said it was the gathering of people that was the important part, a time for people who haven’t seen one another for a long time to get together. Hence the carnival-like atmosphere, with sporting events, children’s games, cribbage tournaments–not to mentions the feasts.
“Something like this event day represents the unity of the community,” White remarked. “In traditional and historical times, a lot of the families and bands did congregate in certain areas.
“It’s very important to our culture.”
Wilson noted the other local area bands in Treaty #3 already had planned their own Treaty Day ceremonies when the four bands decided to come together. But he was hopeful that next year they would join them at Nanicost, implying it seemed likely a joint effort like this would happen again next year.
“I think the four communities are having a lot of fun,” he said.