NNELS Upgrade

During the last twenty years, voices from the First Nations have become louder, expressing their own solutions to problems that have plagued their communities since contact with the Europeans. Their traditional ways of thinking and living have become more visible to those from outside First Nations. Recent directions of First Nations in Northern Ontario have focused on strengthening political, economic, and social systems to promote community healing.

A young First Nations man sets out from his Muskoka home in a quest for redemption after a terrible fire. In the early 1930s, Oscar Wolf, a 13-year-old Native from the Chippewas of Rama Indian Reserve, sets fire to the business section of his village north of Toronto in a fit of misguided rage against white society, inadvertently killing his grandfather and a young maid. Tortured by guilt and fearful of divine retribution, Oscar sets out on a lifetime quest for redemption.

His Majesty’s Indian Allies is a study of British-Indian policy in North America from the time of the American Revolution to the end of the War of 1812, with particular focus on Canada.

Having been born in a tent on Bear Island, Lake Temagami, in 1908, Madeline Katt Theriault could recall an earlier independent and traditional First Nations lifestyle. In this book, the late author proudly tells of her youth and coming of age by sharing her vivid memories and drawing on exceptional old family photographs. In her own words, she writes of a time long ago – a time that was difficult, but not without personal rewards.

Thirteen-year-old Jak Loren is a typical boy with the usual problems a family with older sisters and younger brothers presents. Never mind the troubles at school - bullies and girls! When Jak goes to the ravine near his home in Brantford to get away from Steven Burke, a bully who’s been tormenting him, he discovers the ravine has a history that’s much older than he thought. He meets Grandfather Rock, who shares with him the story of the people who have lived near the ravine for thousands of years. Soon Jak’s eyes are opened to a new world of beings and respect.

The Mazinaw, a place of striking natural beauty, is famous for Bon Echo Rock, a massive sheer cliff, dropping into one of Ontario's deepest lakes. The Mazinaw Experience traces the presence of human habitation on the shores of the Mazinaw from its earliest beginnings to the present, from the nomadic Aboriginal people who believed the cliff top to be a sacred place and the rugged lumbermen whose entrepreneurial zeal cleared out the mighty pine, to the settlers who struggled to create new lives for their families.

The northern community known as Peawanuck (Cree for Flint) is located approximately 32 kilometres up river from the former village of Winisk on the shore of Hudson Bay. There, prior to a devastating flood on May 16, 1986, the First Nations residents of Winisk had carried on with a traditional lifestyle built largely around hunting and trapping seasons.The late Mildred Young Hubbert of Markdale, Ontario, first visited Winisk in the 1960s as a classroom consultant with the then Department of Indian Affairs.

When We Both Got to Heaven places James Atkey (1805-1868) on the shores of Georgian Bay at the time of treaty negotiations between the First Nations people of the Saugeen, Nawash and Colpoy's Bay areas, and the Colonial government. A Methodist lay preacher, Atkey leaves the Isle of Wight and arrives at Colpoy's Bay with his family in 1855. There he takes up the position of teacher for the Anishnaube children of the area. The great-great-great-grandson of James Atkey, author Mel Atkey engaged in extensive research of both primary and secondary sources.

From Burleigh to Boschink: A Community Called Stony Lake covers over a hundred years of human history, encompassing the Aboriginal Peoples, their presence and influence, early settlement and cottaging activity up to the present time. Family stories, local lore, boats and steamers, recreational opportunities, personalities and environmental concerns are all presented through the writings, the voices and the memories of those who were there and, in some cases, still are. Richly supported by rare photographs and other visuals of Stony Lake, this publication will bring delight to many.

On April 23, 1990, after a five-week journey from Hudson Bay to the Hudson River, the Odeyak landed at the Battery for Earth Day. Half-Cree, half-Inuit, the 24-foot freighter canoe, plowing across the Manhattan seascape, was a strange small vessel build in the dark Arctic winter to carry a message from two First Nations of the northern wilderness to a reclaiming of Times Square for Mother Earth. Along with the Crees’ and the Inuit’s hopes and fears for their children and for the future of their river, the Odeyak carried a simple request.