Agency 1
Readers of the Fort Frances Times may be wondering why there has been so much discussion about the former Pither’s Point Park site.
Anyone who sees the Point at Sand Bay recognizes the potential such beautiful natural surroundings has to offer. This area, known as Paw-di-goo-zing, always has been a favourite spot of the Anishinaabe in the Rainy Lake/Rainy River watershed.
It is this reason that it was felt to be important to add our voice to the recent “comments” and responses from Shaun Loney, the Town of Fort Frances, and Ms. Dorothy Friesen. We would be remiss if we were not to share our views and perspective about the future of Paw-di-goo-zing.
As part of the reconciliation of claims, rights, and interests that took place in 1873, the Crown promised Agency reserves as a symbol of the important ongoing treaty relationship between Canada and the Anishinaabe entering into Treaty 3.
The Agency 1 reserve would be where the treaty annuities would be delivered to the area Anishinaabe until local Euro-Canadians complained about the large gathering of natives who were, at the time, able to enjoy the benefits of their annuities and other treaty provisions and did not need to quickly return to their reserves.
Agency 1 reserve’s important purpose, and the gathering of the Rainy Lake Anishinaabe to enjoy and celebrate the treaty, cannot be forgotten.
Treaty 3 was an agreement to allow Euro-Canadians to enter the territory and share its resources provided that the treaty terms were honoured. Under the treaty, reserves were to be established for the First Nations. One of these is the Agency 1 reserve.
The courts decided in 2001 and 2003 that the Agency 1 reserve was set aside for the Couchiching, Naicatchewenin, Mitaanjigamiing, and Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nations.
During the negotiations of Treaty 3, one of the chiefs from the Rainy Lake/Rainy River area asserted that most of the land that was being “claimed” by the Hudson’s Bay Company was his land (for the Anishinaabe people) and that he personally would pull up their stakes. This land is now occupied by Resolute Forest Products and was key to the settlement of Fort Frances.
This is not part of the legal claim we are making, but the town site is on traditional Anishinaabe land. To make way for the town to be built, we were promised land a little to the east.
In 1874, the Agency 1 reserve was planned as far west as what is now Frenette Avenue. But Robert Pither, who was the Indian Agent, had the reserve cut back so he could try to get the land around what is now Williams and Ellingson Avenues for himself.
Despite this, the First Nations have no claim to this land. We do not dispute any resident’s ownership of their property as part of our court claim.
At a recent peaceful march to demonstrate our interests involving Agency 1, we discussed the importance of renaming the park because Robert Pither is the author of much of this mess.
After he failed to get the land mentioned above, he tried to get the Point for himself. But he was found out, and admitted that the land was an Indian reserve.
The town relies on what Pither said in support of his own claim—that it was supported by “local chiefs and councillors of the First Nations.” The Treaty Commissioner and local MP, Simon Dawson, said at the time that it was a disgrace that Pither was using his power as Indian Agent to make baseless claims.
Yes, years later the Ontario government gave Pither land. But in that era, practically any Euro-Canadian male who promised to be a “settler” was given land by the Ontario government.
Paw-di-goo-zing, Sand Bay Point, or Agency 1 reserve are the proper place names and continuing to call it “Pither’s Point” is insulting to the First Nations.
Paw-di-goo-zing is strategically located on the waterways the Anishinaabe used to travel this land. It provided permanent and temporary residences, and it was used for our religious observances.
It also was a productive game and fish harvesting location, surrounded by water in the summer and adjacent to rapids which rarely froze in winter. It was a place of beauty, covered with groves of trees and rich in medicinal plants.
There are several ancient burial mounds at the Point–the last one was bull-dozed around the 1960s. After the fur traders arrived, the Point was intensively used for trading. It was the site of the first European trading post.
The Europeans, of course, built their posts where the Anishinaabe people were, and with their permission, for the convenience of the trading activity. This knowledge is alive in the oral history of our First Nations.
Further, there is documentary evidence. For example, Simon Dawson said in a letter in 1888: “[t]his Reserve, more especially the portion of it which Mr. Pither wants, was an old camping ground of theirs (the Indians) which they and their ancestors had occupied long before he came into the world.”
Our legal claim started based on the fact that Canada negotiated the $1 acre per year lease of the park for 99 years. It was never to “claim” ownership; rather, it was to claim damages for losing the use of most of Agency 1 reserve, including the 99-year lease, and being so poorly-compensated for such loss.
It continues to be shocking that the town suddenly is claiming at the end of the lease that it actually owns the land and it never was an Indian reserve. The temporary court order protecting the town’s interest was appealed by all parties, other than the town, as the court order was shocking, too.
The town should not have turned our Agency 1 court claim for mismanagement of the reserve into a fight for the land. Why should courts decide how we all live together in this beautiful part of Northwestern Ontario?
The Point is beautiful land, and for this reason a long succession of interests have tried to get it from the First Nations. But the days when Anishinaabe people could be forced to retreat into the bush are over.
One hundred years ago, the town council of Fort Frances lobbied furiously to get rid of all the Indian reserves in the vicinity of the town. But this mindset should be left in the past, and we should work co-operatively on a solution that recognizes our First Nations’ rights to Paw-di-goo-zing.
Editor’s note: The above was from Chief Gary Allen, Chief Janice Henderson, Chief Chuck McPherson, and Chief Wayne Smith on behalf of Agency 1.
