Our Home on Native Land - Wikwemikong

[Music] the community of Wick weber Kong is located on Manitoulin Island and Lake Huron scenic Georgian Bay meaning Spirit Island in Ojibwe Manitoulin is one of the largest freshwater islands in the world and wick webicon which translates as bay of the beaver is one of the largest first nation reserves in canada seven thousand people live here representing three different nations Ojibwe Odawa and Potawatomi the community's motto is proud and progressive and it tries hard to live up to it there are modern suburbs with new and well-kept properties there are four churches three schools and two shopping plazas it has its own police force and even its own local television station there's a soccer field and soccer moms and out on the edge of town and 18-hole golf course champion shop my turn meet them on the surface wick Weber Kong or wiki as the locals call it could be any small rural community in the country underneath the porch and as in any community wick Weber Kong has its share of problems there's chronic unemployment there's alcohol abuse and there's a serious problem with hard drugs things like crystal meth and crack cocaine but despite all of that there's a real positive vibe here most people are very optimistic about their future and that future is tied directly to their past this is wick Weber Kong's annual traditional powwow every year it's held in one of the six satellite communities that make up the reserve this is a small powwow compared to one held here later in the summer that attracts more than 60,000 visitors and that one dancers and drummers compete for cash prizes but there's none of that at this smaller gathering this is more a cultural celebration than a competition and it appeals more to those people in the community who take pride in their native tradition you have people like Josh Ashe Cadogan Josh is one of the many volunteers who helped set up the powwow earlier in the day so basically what we do is we formalize a little gathering for traditional peoples and celebrate the nice crystal year that we had super Sabbath service here I understand sort of a Thanksgiving is that this is a Thanksgiving in regards for all the Creator has given us in regards for you know for the harsh winters we've gone through and then we're coming down to where the very festivals coming up dairies are popping out the gardens are going in so we know this is the year that this is the data we celebrate the Thanksgiving of the Creator what's given us to us you know it's nice if we sit up here and you can see there they the Pow Wow and you can hear the drums what so what does it mean to you to have the traditional powwow here oh it's exciting it's all cultural so I I love doing it it's it's my passion for powwow coordinator Debbie and Manito Abbey there are a few things more important than being proud of one's heritage following the red path has been like you know it's you give yourself to to the Creator and living living that way to like you know just a beat up a very better person what is what is the red path the red path is just some living teaching your children teaching people around you of the Anishinabe way which is the traditional way like you know just kind of just being happy being positive than just the well-being of oneself a traditional part of it's so rich in our community for Debbie this celebration symbolizes what's best about her culture but she admits keeping these ancient traditions alive while contending with the pressures of the modern world isn't always easy do you find it ironic here you have a traditional powwow happening and you see everybody in the traditional garb and and drumming and chanting but then on the streets it's a whole different story isn't it I mean I mean you're a mother yourself with kids you know and you hear the kind of things that go on here drugs and alcohol and that kind of thing well how do you feel about that being that it does bother me but I just tell my children I just teach my children like you know if you choose to be that choose to do that wrong like you know you you have consequences the pain and like you know it's just they think it's fun but it's not fun it just it's not healthy the past thirteen years of my life I've struggled hard to gain where I am today as a shall be person our mondo Emma guan's knows how hard it can be to follow a traditional lifestyle we first met him and his family on their way to the powwow he told us that when he was a child he and his brother were taken away from their parents and placed in a white foster home I could say that I'm a survivor itself from the foster care era it's taken me at an early age I endured a lot of physical emotional and spiritual abuse how old were you when you were put into a foster care I was taken away when I was eight eight years old until went till I was 12 so for four years I've been groomed a lot of a lot of that emotional pain that it's very unbearable to even try to remember as to what what had happened to myself and my brother nights where we were locked inside noose and treated very unfairly because of our race our color I didn't go up on the rez when I did come back notice that things have changed here a lot a lot of drugs here now a lot of vandalism our young kids are it's unreal as to what you look what you hear about things what are you hear how bad is it on average here in the community you hear a lot about people getting stabbed up for reasons unknown whether it be involved they might be involved in the local drug business and it's very saddening I have a family now that's you know we're recovering from the drug substance use itself I too have completely admit that I've had my run in with with drugs and alcohol [Music] because I took the time in the effort to say okay enough is enough when I took a look back at uh what's known as a family tree I seen eight generations of a lot of different forms of abuse my daughter here isn't the ninth fire and better known as a nice generation and I said no enough is enough I want to make a stop to this and where do I stop myself first heal myself first so I don't pass none of that on to my kids it stops in this generation yes things are looking better [Music] pride in one's culture starts at an early age here these grade two students are practicing their chanting for a special event being held today at WIC webicon Junior School along with the rest of the kids they've set up displays around the gym depicting different aspects of their traditional life and parents have been invited to drop by to see the exhibits when coming for Teresa hoy the school's principal there's nothing quite as uplifting as listening to these young children speak in their native tongue how do I see them I see them as little butterflies my mangos suck when they go from when they finish one grade and they go to the next grade it's beautiful I called my little butterflies because they're ready for the fire way and come back again and relearn so it's Teresa hoy you're the the principal here at the junior acting principal here at the school okay what was your natives name nachtweh Gish Colquitt which means high spirited woman and are you oh they say I am what's going on here today here at the school well originally a few months back we were going to have multicultural days and then the teacher suggested that we have a cultural day instead to go along with our immersion program that the school is in we have immersion from kindergarten to grade two and it's extending to grade three this this fall Minori Chicago cookie the man [Music] the language immersion program was started here just recently when it became apparent that this cornerstone of the culture was in danger of crumbling with the study that was made on the reserve here we found out that the the younger children are losing their language quite quite fast and and so the director and the teachers and everybody got together and decided that you know we should go immersion to make sure that we keep our language how long has that been going on now uh three years yes three years in the school is it working it's working slowly and gradually and hopefully we'll be there we have here these are things that the students brought in from home what the teacher did was she sent home a list for parents to work on and now send back the words that what you call these different items the first one here is a vinegar cigar the washboard a Josh Cueva then mosque on engine cut kick mullahs are there any modern words that have been translated if the language like something like a computer let's say what would be the word for that a computer inaudible enema cook well and that translates literally as a computer or as something that moves memory that's interesting yes you're at the at the beginning of it all here with these young kids how important is that for this community for to have a good solid educational system here well we've had these schools for over 50 years already and it's always been with the main language English and we've had quite a few students you know graduate and become doctors and all of that and hopefully you know with this immersion program we'll have bilingual doctors and lawyers and all those occupations in the end and you know we will retain our language and still be able to work with the mainstream I'll be attending University of Western Ontario and fall Andrew manitowoc is preparing to enter that mainstream he's one of 23 grade 12 students who are graduating from wick Weber kong's high school this year I plan to take a year off and then go to college for chef training and then chef management alright Karen yeah the same thing I'm going to take a year off and then I'm gonna apply for school maybe be a social worker or a dietician I haven't really decided yet yeah yeah and a me for myself actually I already been accepted into a program called Native community care counseling and development that is through the additional education institute in North Bay Ontario I actually got notice of my funding approved to throw the wicomoco makan Board of Education so I'm looking forward to pursue my post-secondary although it has taken me a long time to get where I'm at today so I want to continue on with that path yeah like you've got you've got two kids right yeah I haven't gone to donors yeah so you were out of school for a while and decided to come back yes I did actually you know it's how it came to be where it was where I am today it was originally last year I wanted to apply into the NCCC D program but I wasn't able to get funding so and it was already late when they had notified me when the announcement of the program was on so what I did was because then I was like well maybe it turns out that I'm finishing up my last year of high school in order to get into the program so that's the road I actually went to so been able to manage so far and actually I feel like I've accomplished so much to date anyway so what and reality is you know the stuff that I do is not only just for myself but you know I think about my family my two daughters and as well as the youth who I actually you know serve for and work for in my community so yeah what's it like coming back to school and hanging out with the with everybody here with that I remember coming to school in September you know I find I kind of felt that I was out of place or that I was too old to be where I'm at but I do feel like that I do fit into them as well because you know I see them date today or you know I work with them um you know here they're you know community events and stuff like that so it's actually you know I took it as you know it was day by day mind you I do have the young ones say you know that they're surprised that I'm still in high school but you know I told them you know it's you know it took me a long time to get where I'm at you know one I just want to provide that example to use that you know anything could be accomplished you know if you just you know keep your your minds and your your mentality focused and you'll get there as well yeah Brittany how about you what what are your plans well planning I just have to say first that I like your fashion statement thing what are your plans well this summer I'm planning to move to New Brunswick and I've already started my apprenticeship at the nursing home here and Wiki doing culinary arts just cooking stuff learning the different recipes for diabetics and for the low sodium and low fat and stuff for special residents so I'm doing that as well I'm gonna complete my apprenticeship in and then hopefully open my own restaurant the unfortunate reality for these students is that there are hardly any job opportunities if they wish to stay in the community in fact most people here are on welfare I was on them the Macomb akong Housing Committee last year and 70% of the people that were through in that program like to welcome housing 70% were on Ontario Works so I mean like a lot of the people that live in wikia Ontario works and it's just it's it's sad because like there's not a lot of economic developer tuna tees and stuff for people for people across the country Ontario Works you're talking social assistance or a great we have like sews like small businesses and we need all there's like lot of students that need summer jobs and there's just not enough room to put them and some of them they just stay home and they're not getting anything staying at home so I think we need like more organizations and more job opportunities but require magong we are in dire need of jobs employment and Robert Corby air has been wick wemmick on chief for the last four years he says he sympathizes with the students dilemma but we're forever telling our kids our students going get a degree we'll get your education on them but after they do get their degrees and get all the they graduate and we got nothing to offer them yeah we're sort of saying to them go get your degree and move on yeah I'm which is which is a bad thing Gaines and it's not good for the the community at large Corby Air who is hoping to get elected for a third term says economic development is his number one priority well I I want to develop this community that's my goal and objective I want to make things happen here and I feel very positive mm-hmm what kind of things are you pushing for what kind of things need to be done here and why but live let me ask answer the question why first first of all not only qualm bakong every firstly nation that i know of is struggling because of their annualized federal contributions federal contributions received don't meet the needs of our community doesn't don't meet the basic needs for our people in terms of a community or for a full operation community and why the question is we don't have an economic base over here and I'm telling people our membership that we got to start earning our own revenues we got to start earning our own keep because the federal government and nobody else is going to do it for us we've got to do it for ourselves and I've been telling the people the only people that are going to help us is the band membership of wigwam become nobody else is going to come over and say hey this is what I can do for you and the project I'm looking at right now is a wind farm alternative energy green energy to supply the the Greater Toronto Area where all the Energy's short major major shortage over there and we're looking at 400 megawatts per week when we come and we have the land requirement Kong like in acres is one hundred five thousand acres now you the brain you can convert that into hectares and plus we also have another reserve a point grand in reserve which is about by boat here about 20 miles we got another 32,000 acres their sole and wise we have the land for development and we have tons of potential you have lots of wind we got oh yeah and I was asked one time what happens if there isn't any wind in a given day in my quick answer to that question at a band public meeting band membership meeting was arranged a council meeting right in front of that wind power and then we have all kinds of wind coming from the bank counselors and myself and but with something like that supply a lot of jobs because I know unemployment is an issue here well unemployment is major major issue the wind project itself at the most maybe create 20 jobs when we're fully in full operation like and then we're looking at like a 10-year phased phased editing but what we need is a cash flow to get into other economic development ventures and that and this wind farm is the key to making that happening and we also have a legged all my quarry out in the south bear yet and it's no one has been sitting there for well at the beginning but the development right now the are people with química are not ready to develop d quarry and start selling rock to once again the Greater Toronto Area so or Soudan Ontario what's the dollar might use for its use for glass it's used for pavements on the highway asphalt and toothpaste and made about a hundred uses for they use it in spark plugs and they're all kind of usage a but this these plans they seem to be sort of developing their I mean there's a where we add what what's happening right now in the community as far as job what's the unemployment rate here first of all the unemployment rate right now here I would say maybe and I'm guessing about 60 to 70 percent and then the people the biggest employer here is the the been administration right and we got some private business we got some logging operations going on and a little bit of farming and and that's about it but there are a few enterprising people in the community who have found other ways of making money this crew is just returning from an island 30 kilometers away where they've been picking medicinal hemlock the hemlock this is what we pick out there this is a we've been doing this now for about five years and within that five years the the remission rates for cancer went down by 18 percent as the indirect result I guess of us to you know contributing to the cause it's just a traditional cure or something newer there's a component inside this plan that they synthesize that they put in for like our breast cancer and another cancer research so that's traditional so you've been doing it for five years but is there better being gone gone back further than that or is this just a recent thing for you guys oh no this has been going back for for years and years really yeah like every other nice knobs around here all know the different medicines they that they use for all kinds different ailments but this one here's where everyone found as one component in here that they found that works with the current survey for breast cancer this is something you do for a living or is it something special you do fine man yeah this for fun for the cure for cancer you're serious about it you must get paid oh yeah oh yeah first you know we do it for nothing we come to our own cots but though and it's all about being out there too you know so we all get to go out and leave all this behind you know we just go back to the land I guess you could say yeah back in the woods and you know recharge your batteries I'm sure how often do you get to do that oh now we wrote they're mostly all the time we come in town once a week we come in we resupply we get all our gear back and we head back out again and you do that what all summer yeah as long as there's a part in the summer where it gets too hot where the active ingredients starts to pollinate they and then the its uses its toxicity I guess after that so we got to wait until it cools off again later on Kevin buyer yes we got to wait for it to get the weather to cool off again and they wonder whether it pulls off we are go back out in the fall again then practically all through the winter to next spring but the summer off pretty much where did you learn all about this well I do a lot of my own research I'd hate to say via internet but I'll say so it's not something necessarily passed down to you by by any the elders or anything actually my grandmother a long time ago she was telling me about this one medicine out there and I was asking her what it cures and she said accuse everything she said everything I say or even a she's like yeah everything but she didn't tell me what it was and then I years later I found it she's all she told me was it's all in the back over here in the backyard it all grows there you playing it all the time and that was this Patrick Shawanna is another resident who's found a unique way of making a living one that includes his love of horses what's his name handsome handsome he's white handsome because he's handsome what's the situation here for you do you have a job here yeah my bosses are tearing yeah waiting for you to go to work yeah what do you what do you do we do some masonry work and I work with these workhorses we plow the fields and you know with workhorses there well go you're a lot bigger yeah belgium's and he's got some Percheron pintos I love working with horses I love I couldn't answer for everybody else but things yeah so it's quite a few unemployed but yeah I do I do it myself if you want to work and if you want to look for work - I work I love being here because this is where I'd rather be here than the city that's for sure because in the city you can write a write up a run around riding a horse and you know what I mean - just as the freedoms as there is a freedom while Patrick may have found the perfect job there are other people in the community who have found a less idyllic way of making a living dealing drugs why the drugs I talk to a lot of people is because we talk about there's no employment for our people so drugs is a quick turnover of easy money and it's our own people bringing it here to reclaim akong for the longest time was major denial here our people saying it's somebody else non-band memory bringing all the drugs in but the police our tribal police no it's not other people non Bamber but it's our own people bring the drugs here and it's post-secondary students that are bringing drugs here know that are going to school say North Bay or the sea or Sudbury and they're doing it to sustain their lively we need to go get their post-secondary education so it's a real catch 20 not wait they get a post-secondary education by dealing drugs and we're talking we're talking things like crack cocaine and crystal meth and and Percodan and prescription drugs I mean we're talking some serious stuff here it's not like you know not to belittle it but I mean it's not like they're just smoking pot this no this is heavy stuff a we talked about it at constant meetings many times and we had judge Gay coming tacos one time in work and our tribal police and we're trying to get a handle and how can we prevent the growth of the activities that are going right now or curtail them work or make it preventive and the only answer we come we came up with at that particular meeting the old Bank Council where there was activities and the judge gay says create as many activities as you can for your kids and your students and your people and they'll somewhat curtailed all these activities and drugs and alcoholism too there may be some activities for kids during the day but it's a different story after dark especially on the weekends after dark on asada event usually get the rows of kids walking around in packs of about 10 15 20 kids and they're all coming out and you know they're all partying and whatnot and the night an example that I can give you is about the the ambulance story over here one of these guys lambent was called and then these kids came out and they grabbed the ambulance and they broke off the communications antenna and he started shaking the ambulance and not scared the heck out of the paramedics that came so they don't come they don't come around here anymore especially on that street they won't come around without any police escort or anything like that is they were terrified and you know these kids didn't have any intention of doing any harm this was all just fun and games to them like they have no intentions of you know getting in there and getting at these guys but it's like like wild dogs but are they drinking are they doing drugs what's the scene other they are drinking them you know they are doing drugs you know society night it's you know in the dark they're bored right there's nothing really left for them to do around here at night at night so it's a part of the culture right yeah so they already color and that's how the socio that's all they're a sociological thing yeah that's how they fit in with their own group and they get together that's what they do and uh you know what kind of drugs are we talking about here oh you know just your typical street drug yeah gasoline to ecstasy to speed cocaine cocaine crack cocaine like garbage pod Hodge everything just everything I'm not sure yeah everything pharmaceuticals - you're really huge here yeah I'm Jackie like the prescription drugs that's a big problem huge huge problems even worse than Ollie legal all seven oxycontin Josh says that's that's what everybody does it's our you know like the way I said it there at one time is the the painkillers a to get addicted to the painkillers and now the way I think about it a they got a lot of pain in their hearts so they get the dicta to the painkillers so it numbs everything out for them and you know they're just they're bored kids they don't know what to do they're lashing out - against their own society like they're products of their surroundings you know only I coined a phrase there one time about byproducts of the community right so they get their attention and they lash out in the event and you which way they can is this something relatively new or is it something that's been going on a long time or is it something that's getting worse well I've seen it gradually the downward spiral I call it that like when I was younger and when I was a teenager and getting into that sort of thing you know yeah sure we had our little ways but I've noticed gradually that every generation is progressively getting worse than the one previous side so like the way we did things now the next generation that comes in is 10 times harder they're doing things more I'm I hate to say it I'm kind of like responsible for they saw us and how we behave and then they accepted that and now it's their turn they're behaving in a more harder you know like more deeper level more hardcore a you know their hurt this night the rains came and the streets were soon deserted this advice could you put accountable policy in this unit for the time being ten-four but according to the people on the front line like police officer Jamie Peltier the drug and alcohol situation in what way Mekong is getting worse I don't think the problems that are happening in our community are specific to our community I think they happen all over but generally we're seeing a lot of property offenses break and enters mischief vandalism we're seeing a lot of domestic assaults and things like that and a lot of the underlying reasons why that's happening a lot of people figure are because of drugs in the community there's a lot of drug abuse alcohol abuse and things like that so when we're on patrol generally that's what we come across a great percentage of our incidents that we deal with are there's either drug or drugs or alcohol involved in them are we talking you know just people smoking a smoking joints that kind of thing or is it more serious than that it's getting a little bit more serious I've been on for about 10 years now and in that time I've actually seen an increase in the hard type of drugs coming in initially it was like I don't want to say too soft drugs or whatnot but I mean things like marijuana and hash but now we are seeing different types of drugs like crack cocaine and cocaine and the heavier drugs are actually making in to the community now are they are they getting into the hands of the kids like high school students or is it the adults who who's using these drugs at this point where it's kind of a mixture of both so it is actually getting to the younger groups as well which is why we want to go into the schools and and teach the kids to stay away from this the allistic illicit drugs and things like that jamie is a community services officer when he's not on patrol he's in the schools talking to teens and even preteens about the dangers of drugs I provide different programming's to the schools and other organizations in the community so different programs like the dare program we do the drug abuse resistance education program for the great fives at the at the grade 5 level why is it necessary to go to the grade fives with something like the dare program well the dare program is is specifically geared for grade 5 and greed 6 levels so that's why that group is particularly targeted with that program and then there's other programs for the smaller kids like we do different programming with the smaller kids and then I have requests from the high school as well for different presentations up there as well different variety of topics usually I guess my question is why is it necessary to have a drug awareness program for kids in grade five and six what's the situation here well there's it I guess that's becoming a little bit more of a problem and as opposed to police being reactive to problems in the community like drugs and different offenses they want us to do take a more proactive approach which is why the coma Kong Police Service initiated the Community Services Officer position to get us into the schools on a more proactive and positive situations instead of just reacting to crime and dealing with youth and that and that respect sometimes when I'm just walking around people will ask me if I want any drugs anything but I always say no it kind of annoys me when people just constantly ask me hey where is a stuff at I don't know it's like sometimes I feel like I want to say like do you have anything better to do besides to do that stuff sometimes it seemed just about everyone we talked to in the community we're not only aware of the drug situation but most have been affected by it in one way or another well actually yeah because my my daughter is going to transition from a junior school setting which is from kindergarten to grade 4 now into grade 5 where it's great 5 to 8 and just from what I hear of hearsay is a lot of issues going on in that area in that school it could be here as well too because I'm not here majority of the time at the high school when you say issues what are we talking about I'm talking about dumb students bringing stuff to school whether it's prescription drugs or whatever taken it from the homes and actually putting it in drinks to offer to other students within that school I had a friend that lit that I used to be a friend with since I was like in grade one now he just doesn't know anybody because he's only in he's only 16 and he's addicted to crack already then I've already lost a friend like that and I'd say that the drugs on here are really bad and they need to start doing something about it how prevalent is it how big a problem is it I'd say it's a very big problem really this all the young kids are some do like pills and weed really what kind of pills are they doing like purse all cheese II how does that make you feel no it makes us makes like me feel as a native that it's like slowly killing our existence as native people on this earth and like we somebody needs to stand up and tell everybody that you need to stop this because it's it's not right it really does Saturn me deeply to see our young people get into crack cocaine I have a sister who suffers from youth from constant use a crack cocaine that I'm going to see this weekend here at the traditional Paula I haven't seen her in the four years so I'm kind of hoping that she'll sit and listen to my story as to how I turned my life around from I use of my preferred use was a prescription medication pain pills and for me it was a place of hiding I didn't want to feel the pain of what I went through I didn't want anybody to get close to me this Amanda with the Qatari with her yeah no mourners sitting order Robin our oldest granddaughter Leanne husband wife Gordon Wemmick Wong and his wife Julia have also been affected by the drug culture there the proud grandparents of 22 grandchildren Ostend Peter and Annie Wow how many 22 grandchildren do you do grandchildren are missing here Andrews our youngest daughter passed away of six years ago Phil's mom Nestle's on the end we met Gordon and Julia at this family get-together in their backyard what's it like to have 22 grandchildren I can't imagine it's fun it's funny yeah never lonesome around here there's always somebody around me always gets around so you have 22 grandchildren how many children did you have we had we had seven girls no boys one my youngest one died at this one here yes do you love to walk to her he's still here looking after them now was it an accident something like that yeah yeah at first Gordon found it too difficult to talk about his daughter's death could I ask you about your your daughter would or is it too hard to talk about it was too hard to talk about yeah I thought he died didn't you oh did you show deed on drugs actually we don't really know what happened that's one who they told us what I did was something else how old was she she was only 19 years old she died she here on in the community or not was in Sudbury I don't know I must be terribly difficult it was difficult I'm not over over over yet there you have all these other kids and grandchildren and you know that these kind of things exist here how difficult is that for you how hard is that for you knowing that that you know these kind of pressures and these kind of things still exist around here did you listen and I know the communities all these are helping and there's they got places we can go make a phone call if you need help with your child in shock you got help by me you know as a mother and a grandmother that must be such a worry for you I always trying to tell them just hang around those kind of a kids stay away from it I suppose what I always tell them you know we yeah you guys better listen to your grandmother Hey okay don't you think she said don't hang around with the bad crowd don't get into drugs and alcohol all right that's good we just completed a community survey to try and determine what the community perception was with regard to alcohol and various types of substances specific substances in our community which when bakong is trying hard to put itself on the road to recovery Rolanda Manitoba runs the rainbow Lodge a drug and alcohol treatment and recovery center its regard to the alcohol and drugs it's heartbreaking you know people don't have to use drugs to live a healthy life in a good life and I think that there are a lot of issues underneath that that you know we have a lot of healing to do and I think we round we're on our way you know but the long road ahead is that what you do here is it is it healing is that what we're talking about here at gorgonic Recovery Center we focus on alcohol and drug treatment so it's not necessarily healing we hope that when clients well usually when they complete the four-week program that we do have they would have identified some of those underlying issues as well as you know gaining tools to help them with their abstinence from their particular drug of choice with regard to their addictions so they leave with an aftercare plan and that may include you know things like meeting with traditional healers in their community attending a ei meetings or any meetings in their community meeting with elders or mental health workers or whoever so it's what they plan I guess upon leaving here to help them in their recovery what's the biggest problem what do you deal with mostly here probably crack cocaine and alcohol how do you feel about that how do you feel about that when you see that kind of stuff going on in the community here it's actually really scary to think about that because the kids are using a lot more with regard to prescription drugs or you know mixing various types of drugs and whatnot if there's been reports you know with regard to do high numbers of you know crack crack cocaine those types of things I don't know what the extent of that is in our community but it's any bit of that is of course a great concern for us what are the the main issues that people are dealing with here that drive them to alcohol and drugs what are the the top three issues or four issues is it possible to to list that off unfortunately yeah yeah because I mean we have this organization has been in operation for more than 30 years now and four to five years that I've been here some of the underlying issues that have been identified or are generally identified are sexual abuse family violence and history of maybe physical violence in their lives so I think those are some of the issues that contribute to their choices and you know addictions with regard to the culture as well when you asked about the you know some of the issues underlying the addictions maybe cultural identity is another aspect that contributes to that as well because we find with the clients coming in you know that they're very eager and very hungry to learn more about their culture you know if it's their name or clan or some of the cultural teachings you know the ceremonies they're very eager to learn as much as they can why do you think that is what do you think there's that need for that I think because it's a something that you can relate to so in your in your heart you know you you identify with that and maybe some of that cultural loss has been you know a part of our experiences as Aboriginal people and you know we and it fits and it makes us feel good and we identify with that so it brings about the the self-esteem and confidence knowing who you are I go through a time in my day where I sit and reflect and I think about those people that have done me all that harm because to be myself as a native person to hold your head up high and to be proud you have to learn to forgive yourself first and then learn to forgive others that's where the humility comes into play and right now in my life humility is a big thing seven years ago Debbie Manito Abby also decided to dedicate herself to her native culture and try to live a more traditional life it was never there for me as a child because of the religion like you know I am both Roman Catholic and tradition my father had been a deacon here in the community so he was strongly for the church but as as I grew to know myself better I wanted the more cultural part it was just always in my heart to to go that way to be that way because like you know it's just it had been taken away from our farm from us because of the Jesuits that like you know it just it was hard like you know even I had a very disturbing with with my father like he he was angry at me at one at one time but he accepted my choice of going this way going this path religion versus tradition has been part of Wick wemmick hogs history for more than a hundred and fifty years in the mid 1800s the jesuit brothers established a settlement here first they built this church and then next door constructed what is now the ruins of an imposing stone building the Jesuits mission headquarters they were built as a residence for four Jesuit priests and brothers this was the center of the mission here for all over the north so they would come here and then they would spread out for good other parts of the North Shore and other parts of the island and there were general brothers here who did a lot of the industrial work and taught industrial skills and did the farming here and on the top floor that would have been a dormitory for boys who live in the far part of the reserve and would come in during the weekdays and stay and go back in the weekends although there was a dormitory for boys this was never used as a residential school that school was on the mainland in a town called Spanish and most of the children from WIC webicon ended up there it was one woman who told me yeah I got everything I buy everything I have I got from the residential school and then they were back dresses but what was it really like there you hear all these complaints and she said they made us ashamed of being Indian and I think that that's the crux of the matter there it's not the port food because the food was not bad they weren't physically beaten any more than I was when I was a boy but you know that was made a shame to be an Irish Catholic when I went to school and these children were in that to me used a crime and it took a long while for some people to get over that you know some people still haven't gotten over it I suppose it's right how do you feel about the recent apology from the Government of Canada should have been near forty years ago how do you feel now looking back on the residential school issue well in hindsight you know we can say was a terrible mistake but at the time I mean even the government thought they were doing a good thing you know we have a real Commission historians write a book on the school in Spanish and it's a quite a balanced book and it really uncovers the problems and one of the problems was the federal government didn't finance it enough you know they were they were skipping all the time you know anyway people see herself a fond memory of Spanish but as I say they came away being ashamed of who they were and shame is a hard thing to get rid of it's a terrible thing to live with you know and no child should ever have had that happen to them you know yeah and of course being taken away from their parents and taken away from their community it's more than shame no I was traumatized I went to school the first year and then though I came home for lunch every day so quite a difference when you don't come home at all that's right that's right other than the dark days of residential schools the people of Wickham akong are extremely proud of their history as you drive into the community there's a sign that reads this is Canada's only officially recognized unseated Indian reserve it all dates back to 1836 when the British designated a large number of islands in Georgian Bay including Manitoulin Island as permanent Indian territory their hope was that all First Nations people from Upper Canada and Beyond would want to move here and in so doing open up more land elsewhere for white settlement but when that didn't work out the British returned with a treaty in 1862 and tried to buy back the island according to Roland Pangu ich Wieck Wemmick Kong's chief wasn't interested and in particular with Lacroix Mekong it's called the unseeded Indian reserve because of a surrendered it took place a treaty that we opposed in 1862 that we refused to sign because we had signed a treaty with Sir Francis bond head in 1836 in which the British promised that these islands all the islands between sue st. Marie and Penetanguishene numbering some 23,000 islands that those would be ours forever our property so when this they came back in 1862 wanting to get more land and our chief said no you know this is SARS this is the promise and we've never you know given up our rights here this is our land and we don't want to part with it but they were able to induce some other people to sign this agreement and we refused and at that point they said well everything east of the line from South Bay to marathoning Bay they drew a line and they said east of that will be on the unseeded portion so from that point on we were called the unseeded and it has a lot more meaning I guess in the sense of the continuous line of our occupation of the territory and all the legal rights that entails but unseated also has implications under the Indian Act where it says under I forget what section but where it defines an Indian reserve it says property that's held in trust by the crown for the use and benefit of Indians but there's a subsection there it says special reserves and special reserves are defined as land which is held by someone other than the crown and in this case we'll comecon and seated Indian reserve is classed as a special reserve because the property lies in our own interests and what's the advantage of that well it's it's not a matter of land being set aside or just for the use and benefit it's actually our property we own it and have never relinquished our jurisdiction over the territories so as far as our people have always been concerned this is our land and we hold jurisdiction over it and of course in trying to come to agreement with all that means with the Government of Canada there's a lot of differences of opinion as to you know what our rights really amount to but it's something people here seem to be very proud of yes yeah we are very proud of our status as an unseeded Indian reserve and we to us it's something that we've inherited from our our forefathers and that we intend to pass on to our future generations in terms of this remaining our land these young dancers represent that next generation they're learning at an early age that being proud of who you are builds self-esteem and strength of character that's what makes you that better person is because you're proud you don't walk around like this like some of them do I said you're like this and people know like you know that like people know who my children are this is my husband Jim meant Wahby nice to meet you this is my son Sheldon Manitoba I've introduced my children to naming ceremonies so my children and I we have Indian names what's your Indian name translated in English is one who takes care of water so neba is water neba naked ends get naked danger get is one who takes care of something so never so I I take care of the water and ironically my son who is 12 years old my father had given him his Indian name before he passed on which is white caps on the waters Wow so and you're the one who wanted to take care of water yeah great you boys come on every morning the students at the junior school head out for their daily run great three boys and currents question on everyone's mind in which webicon is what kind of future will there be for these kids will they be able to avoid the vicious circle of drugs and alcohol and go on to lead productive lives the overwhelming answer we heard was that their future looks bright you see these kids now that are under your care do you do you see a bright future for them oh yes there's a bright future for them and the school is the school that has a lot to do with that the schooling that they're getting now you know that there's issues that our community has you know and we continue to work you know for more employment and more opportunities and more access to services and whatnot but the people help one another out they care for one another you know sometimes we have facilitators coming in to do workshops or conferences you know they can come in have an impact on us but then they're gone our community members you know someway I guess we're all related and we care about one another and I think the community comes together in times of need and I just I love it the land is beautiful waters beautiful you know it's just a place like it like I said every community has its problems and I know we have a good set of organizations here that are working together to to do some proactive stuff like it's not only the police office that's initiating programs we have the rainbow Lodge drug and alcohol recovery center and we've got the kinder go berry Family Center there's different organizations in the community that are really stepping up and trying to do more proactive things so it's it's looking promising and I think all we can do is keep trying and and what not everybody is expecting a big turnaround at some point especially the younger people and and I'm saying it's going to happen our elders talked about that too and he says it's time to roll over and start the making things happen here in the community and start paying our one way and the only way we're going to do that is we got to get some economic development projects and you guys start earning our own revenues so where are we right now sort of do you feel that change is like just right there it's it's where they're we're at the tip of it right now and it's ready to ready to roll ready to go yeah and I get a lot of encouragement from the younger kids too and the post-secondary students I get emails and calls from all over Canada even as far as Texas in California saying let's get going and a lot of people are saying don't back up we've got to go to a distance so I'm telling the people we are going to go to the distance and one day we're going to say to the rest of Canada hey we're on our own and we're okay and that's going to happen that's that's definitely going to happen how do you feel [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: cpac

Views: 72,899

Rating: 4.7561903 out of 5

Keywords: Wikwemikong, First, Nations, Reserve, native land, native, manitoulin, manitoulin island, georgian bay, ontario, reserves, residential schools, cpac, canada

Id: ell3X6Afn3U

Length: 59min 33sec (3573 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 13 2010