All posts by meanderer007

Treaty of Niagara

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Aboriginal Law, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

There is one more document that must be considered in order to understand the significance of the Robinson Treaties. in 1764, one  year after the Royal Proclamation was proclaimed,  Sir William Johnson who represented the English crown, invited all of the First Nations in the region that would be impacted by the Treaty of Niagara to Niagara to talk him. This has been called the Council of Niagara 1764 and was attended by over 1,700 Indigenous people, including Anishinaabe leaders. At that time Johnson on behalf of the  Crown again assured the Indigenous attendees of their autonomy and stated that the Crown would maintain and protect their title to their lands as was proclaimed by King George in the Royal Proclamation.

He advised them that he was the person responsible to implement the Royal Proclamation. He sent out copies of the proclamation together with strings of wampum. These are shells commonly used in Eastern Canada and they represented the highest forms of nation-to-nation diplomacy. These strings or belts were the indigenous form of treaty “writing.” It is interesting how the parties latched on to Indigenous ceremonies in this “new world.” This was a sign of respect by British authorities to their Indigenous partners. It was understood that they would be partners.

 

The Covenant Chain belt was created through the Treaty of Niagara. It is a belt that shows 2 individuals holding hands representing friendship and alliance. Gifts and wampum belts were exchanged, including the Great Covenant Chain Wampum and the 24 Nation Wampum. The trial judge in the Ristoule case that went to the Supreme Court who momentously rule on the case this past year, described the Great Covenant Chain Wampum as an embodiment of the “merged symbols of diplomacy” between the two groups, visually represented on the belt by two figures holding hands as part of two links in a chain.”

The Treaty of Niagara is what flowed from that historic meeting in 1764.

Aimée Craft is an Indigenous lawyer (Anishinaabe-Métis), an assistant professor at the Faculty of Common Law, University of Ottawa, and an adjunct professor in Native Studies at the University of Manitoba, said this;

“The Royal Proclamation does not stand alone. The Treaty of Niagara is a sister document. It is the foundation of the nation-to-nation relationship between Canada and the First Nations of Canada. Together, the Treaty and the Proclamation provided the first understandings between the English and the Indigenous people of North America about the relationship of the British crown and the indigenous nations. Through the Proclamation, Britain asserted sovereignty over the parts of North America that it claimed, but at the same time, it also acknowledged the sovereignty of the First Nations of Canada. It recognized that lands had not been surrendered or ceded to the British crown and therefore it was necessary to make treaties with Indigenous peoples.”

 

The Royal Proclamation signed by King George said Canada should ensure that indigenous people would not be disturbed or molested in their occupation of land reserved for them. It also said the abuses that occurred in the past in the acquisition of land should not be repeated.  It was acknowledged that too often in the past fraudsters had taken advantage of Indigenous people who often could not read English script.

A fundamental principle of the Royal Proclamation is that no private person has the authority or privilege to purchase land from Indigenous people of those vast lands that had been set aside for them (unceded land). The crown has the exclusive right to purchase such land from Indigenous people or groups and only at public meetings of said nations. The indigenous people had to be “inclined to dispose” of their interest as the nation as involved in the agreement. If they were not so disposed there would no transfer of ownership. This is the foundation of treaty making to this day. Only in this way can land of a First nation be sold or ceded.

Sadly, later there were some lapses in recognizing this legal prerogative, just as there were lapses in failing to honour the treaties, particularly on the part of the non-indigenous people. Perhaps there is no better example of this than the Robinson Treaties, that I will get to in the next post.

The Treaty of Niagara is called a treaty because 200 chiefs showed up from as far away as the Rocky Mountains. They came to Niagara to “make treaty.” 24 nations were represented. Of course, the concept of nations has morphed over time.

These 2 documents, together with the Covenant Chain, mandate non-interference in indigenous governance. According to Professor John Borrows, of the University of British Columbia, this is the foundation for indigenous sovereignty. Those treaties that were negotiated are still the legal basis for the legitimacy of settler presence in North America. They are the basis of the right of all of us non-indigenous people who live in North America to do so with security of tenure.

 

 

Royal Proclamation 

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

Shortly after the ending of the Seven Years War between France and England, and after England assumed European control of North America, a number of North America’s First Nations, including the Anishinaabe, rose up against the French. After all, unlike France, most of them had not signed a treaty with the British.

In response England through its monarch King George issued a famous Proclamation commonly referred to as the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation is now part of the law of Canada. It has been called by the Supreme court of Canada, a defining moment in Canadian history. I shall return to it again and again. The Supreme Court also said it provided the impetus for the Robinson Treaties.

As the Mr. Justice Jamal of Supreme Court said, in the Ristoule case in 2024 dealing with the Robinson Treaties

“In the Proclamation, the Crown unilaterally asserted sovereignty over what is now Canada, but also affirmed pre-existing Aboriginal title and ownership of unpurchased lands. The Proclamation created special rules for the purchase and sale of “Lands of the Indians” to prevent fraud and abuse, prohibited private parties from purchasing such lands, and stipulated that they could only be surrendered to the Crown.”

 

One of the effects of the Proclamation was that colonial governments, in what is now Canada and the United States, were forbidden to survey or grant any unceded lands. This particularly riled the Americans who were expecting to develop and open up the west for American enterprise and government.  The Americans saw it as British interference. They hated this constraint and it was an important cause of the American Revolutionary War. The Americans wanted to control the continent.

As a result of the Royal Proclamation, colonial governments were forbidden to allow British subjects to settle on Indian lands or to allow private individuals to purchase them.  There was an official system of public purchases developed in order to extinguish Indian title. The English did not want anyone asserting claims to ownership which might lead to  a dubious foundation in law for such titles  as this would provide an insecure foundation for development. Settlers and business people all wanted secure title to land, or they would not invest in it.

Added to that, even the King of England realized he had no authority to simply take land from other nations in either English law or international law.  This meant that England would have to establish a sound legal basis for obtaining title from Indigenous people. This is part of the treaty making process and an important part of the motivation for treaty making by Europeans and later Canadians. Modern Canadians often forget about this context when they complain about treaties. In the view of the British and Canadian governments this secure foundaton was very important.

Americans had fewer scruples. They believed that conquest, if necessary, would provide a secure foundation.  However, its Indian Wars were horrendously expensive and the English and later the Canadians blanched at the thought of following the American lead. After 1776, Americans were spending about 1/4 of their federal budget on these wars

Added to that, even when King George wanted to assert jurisdiction over parts of Canada, as he did, he had to wrestle with this problem. Frankly, he also did not have the military strength to just take it all. So, King George had problems and the Royal Proclamation was his way of dealing with some of those problems. As a result, King George asserted jurisdiction but also recognized the limitations of doing so.

 

 

Context of Robinson Treaty

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous Treaties

 

I will now describe to you what the Supreme Court of Canada said about the  factual background or context to the negotiation and implementation of the Robinson Treaties.  I want to remind readers that the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada was rendered by Mr. Justice Jamal who spoke on behalf of the entire court. In other words, all 9 judges of the Supreme Court agreed with his decision.  How often do think the 9 judges agree on what day it is?

I will borrow heavily from his written decision. It is actually an amazing primer in Aboriginal Law, a subject that has engaged my interest for about 2 decades. I learned very little of this in Law School. In other words, I, like most law students at the time of my graduation, was pitifully ignorant of aboriginal law. It was not even a subject at the time.

Justice Jamal also pointed out how the essential facts in this dispute that lasted for 100 or 150 years depending on how one counts “are not materially in dispute.” How could they argue then for so long, you might ask?  That is a good question.

Justice Jamal pointed out, as I will., that “the historical setting of the treaty provides a valuable context for understanding” the issues and what must be done to implement it.

The Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes are members of several First Nations who historically inhabited and continue to inhabit the northern shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior. That is exactly the region Christiane and I travelled through on our trip to the east coast in 2024. The Anishinaabe were organized in bands (communities), each occupying and harvesting discrete territories considered as communal property.

 This is important. The Anishinaabe like so many other Indigenous people did not share the same views of property as the Europeans who settled what we now call Canada. The Anishinaabe believed they owned land in common. No Anishinaabe person could claim to hold any particular piece of land as his or hers. They owned it together. They were a community.

The Supreme Court also noted that the Anishinaabe spoke different dialects of their Indigenous language, Anishinaabemowin.

The lands that were subject to the Robinson treaties were huge. The land exceeded more than 100,000 sq. kilometres. That’s bigger than Portugal. It included many communities such as Thunder Bay, Wawa, Sault  Ste. Marie, Blind River, Sudbury, and many more. When the treaties were signed in 1850 there were 1,422 individual (indirect) beneficiaries of the Robinson-Huron Treaty and 1,240 of the Robinson-Superior Treaty. The number of current beneficiaries has not yet been determined, but it is believed, on the basis of evidence at the  2017 trial,  that there could be 29,926 beneficiaries of  Robinson-Huron Treaty and 13,546 of the Robinson-Superior Treaty. It affected a lot of people and still does so. In each case it includes people living on and off reserves.

These two treaties, which I together refer to as the Robinson Treaty or treaties was also an important precedent for subsequent treaties.

As the Justice Jamal of the Supreme Court explained,

“The Robinson Treaties built on a close relationship between the British and the Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes that existed long before 1850. That relationship was guided by the Covenant Chain alliance, dating back to the 17th century, which symbolized the close connection between the British Crown and Indigenous peoples, including the Anishinaabe. The British and the Anishinaabe maintained this connection in part through annual gift-giving around sacred “council fires” as expressions of mutual generosity and goodwill… As European settlement increased, the Crown assured the Anishinaabe that their autonomy and title to land would be protected.”

The problem was that the Crown, in this case the government of Canada West (Ontario),  could not always be trusted, as the Anishinaabe learned.

 

 

Robinson Treaties

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, civilization, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

Treaties are very important for relations between Indigenous People and first the British government and then the emerging country of Canada, as it came to be called.  One of the most important or significant of those treaties was entered into before 1867 when Canada became an partially independent country. This was actually a series of treaties referred to as the Robinson Treaties or the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties. The story of these treaties is one of the most fascinating stories in Canadian history and helps to explain that relationship between these nations.

 

Much of this region we drove through from Thunder Bay to Ottawa was part of the land that was subject to the Robinson Superior Treaty that was signed in 1850 in Sault Ste. Marie. That treaty has become very controversial in Canadian law at least until a landmark decision was made by the Supreme Court of Canada this year, 2024.

 

The Robinson Treaties, saw Canada secure almost all of northwest Ontario for settlement and resource development. That is what Canada and Ontario wanted. New in these agreements were provisions made for reserves based on sites chosen by Indigenous leaders. These Robinson Treaties of 1850 are credited with laying the foundation for what later became known as Western Canada’s Numbered Treaties that were entered into between Canada, after Confederation in 1867, and various First Nations. Treaty making during this period was not just confined to the eastern and central areas of what would become Canada.

 

These treaties were very important for both the indigenous people who were confronting an avalanche of immigrants from Europe, and elsewhere, and of course they were very important to those immigrants who had created a new national entity—Canada.  We are all treaty people. Those treaties are very important. Canada realized that it would never be able to develop the country without being able to grant secure title to land that these newcomers would want in order to come here. Canada did not want to follow the mistakes the Americans were making to our south. Americans were spending 25% of their entire federal budget on fighting Indian wars.  The country to the south had many more people and much more money than us Canadians to the north.  So much money was a burden even on them.  Canadian officials realized that such expenses would bankrupt their country just as it was, in their view, getting off the ground.  Canada decided, rightly in my view, that it would be much better for all to come to an agreement. An amicable agreement. Canada chose to negotiate treaties with the inhabitants.

 

The Robinson Treaties were made before Confederation in 1867 and the Robinson Treaties of 1850 were the template for the numbered treaties that followed after 1867. It laid the groundwork for the later treaties and development of the country and unfortunately, that foundation was not as solid as the people had hoped.  I should mention that there were also peace and friendship treaties that had been made with indigenous people on the east coast that also preceded the numbered treaties and I will deal with them when this journey gets to that part of Canada.

 

There had been a lot of conflicts with indigenous people on the east  coast that hindered development of the country that the arrivals from Europe yearned for. As a result, in light of those conflicts and the changing political, social, and economic dynamics, the years between 1764 and 1836 saw the newly created colonies of Upper and Lower Canada negotiate roughly twenty-seven (27) land purchases to secure the lands falling within their newly defined territories.

 

This also coincided with the post-1812 shift in colonial policy away from military alliance, and towards demands that Indigenous people abandon their traditional life ways and adapt an agrarian and sedentary lifestyle. The Europeans saw these plans for “civilization,” as they called them,  as a shift from cash payment and trade relationships, in favour of annuity payments used to develop permanent agricultural communities. As non-Indigenous settlement moved west and conflict over land and its resources escalated, colonial officials sought to speed up land secession agreements around the areas of Lake Huron and Superior. Officials’ laissez-faire approach in making treaties with Indigenous communities, whose territories they were moving into, resulted in an armed insurrection at Mica Bay on Lake Superior in 1849.

 

Of course, now we know that the ideas of the European settlers contained many elements, such as harmful ideas of white supremacy, that are entirely inimical to civilization. In many respects, the development by Europeans of Canada result in the destruction of civilization and the imposition on Indigenous People of what might with more justification be called barbarism.

 

This was not a good start. But it got even worse.

More than Beauty

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact, Indigenous Treaties

 

The north shore of Lake Superior is more than just a beautiful coastline along the world’s largest freshwater lake. It is that, but it is much more than that.  It is a place where a lot of important history has occurred.  It was an important place in the history of Canada’s fur trade.  That means it is an important part of Canadas’s history after Europeans made contact with the indigenous people that lived in the country.

 

After lunch in Wawa, Christiane  and I continued travelling but stopped at High Magpie Falls. This was a gorgeous set of falls and I could not refrain from photographing them. There were 2 interesting plaques nearby. One celebrated the Michipicoten First Nation. According to their own website, “We  are Anishinaabeg who understand our responsibility to care for our Nation. Under the guidance of Creator, our ancestors, and our history, we walk with our people to mino-biimaadiziwin (the good life, the life of wholistic well-being).”

The Nation (original Peoples’) in their own Creation Story relates how

“Ojibwe or Ojibway (pronounced Oh-Jib-Way) are related to Original Man or Anishinaabe (An-ish-in-awb). The Ojibway are said to be the Faith Keepers; Keepers of the Sacred Scrolls and the Water Drum of the Midewinwin (Midi-win-win shamanic society for healers). The fundamental essence of Anishinaabe life is unity, the oneness of all things; the belief that harmony with all created things can be achieved and that the people cannot be separated from the land with its cycle of seasons or from the other mysterious cycles of living things – of birth and growth and death and new birth. The people know where they come from; the story is deep in their hearts and it is told in legends and dances, in dreams and symbols.”

 

This is exactly what I was posting about earlier under the subject of Indigenous spirituality. Don’t believe me; believe the Ojibway.

The Ojibway were the earliest inhabitants of the Michipicoten River. They explain that the archeological sites excavated at the mouth of the Michipicoten River make it evident that there has been an continued uninterrupted occupation of this region by the aboriginal people for 7,000 years or more. Some of those archaeological sites that have identified from the period just before the arrival of the Europeans (between 700-1500 AD) and those sites showed that the Ojibway people whose “summer grounds” were located at the mouth of the Michipicoten River  where members of tribes from the south and east frequently intermarried The ancient canoe routes also showed that the mouth of the Michipicoten River and Magpie Rivers were a hub of transportation and gateways to the interior as far north as James Bay with access to the vast interior of what is today northern Ontario and connecting it with the other Great Lakes and the inland sea of Hudson’s Bay.

After the arrival of Europeans, at the height of the fur trade from the 17th to 20th centuries, many Europeans who came to the region took Ojibway wives and their descendants lived the native way of life making a large part of their livelihood by fishing and trading furs with the Hudson’s Bay Company and other settlers.

There is another aspect to the history of this region to which I and my friends were entirely oblivious when we drove through it in 1967.  That year we must remember, was 100 years after Confederation. We used to say, we were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the creation of our country. That was just plain ignorant on our part. It ignored the incredible history and culture of the people who lived here long before the “whitemen” arrived.

The history since European contact with Indigenous people  was not without its difficulties.  One of the ways the people tried to resolve those difficulties was through treaties.

A treaty is a legally binding agreement outlining the rights and duties of its signatories and is protected by international law. Negotiated and agreed to by two or more sovereign nations, treaties are formal agreements used to reinforce and protect relations between those parties.  For example, in Canadian law, treaties are seen as constitutional documents. They are as fundamental as the constitution.

In North America, Indigenous societies and colonial powers often held divergent traditions and understandings on the composition and structure of these agreements. These understandings were informed by their own social, political and economic norms. Far from homogenous, pre-colonial laws, customs, and practices informed Indigenous treaty agreements. This frequently led to misunderstandings that stood in the way of congenial agreements.  Many of these principles were shared among Indigenous nations, ensuring that all parties upheld their obligations. Many Indigenous nations recognize this treaty legacy and continue to advocate that the original intent of these agreements with the Crown, and then Canada, be honoured.

Conflict between competing empires often made its way to North America, and almost always involved Indigenous peoples.  Each European side sought allies in North America and expected their allies to fight on their side. The Great Peace of Montreal serves as but one example of an agreement that brought to a close prolonged periods of conflict. Signed in 1701 between New France and forty (40) Indigenous groups of Central and Eastern North America. This treaty ushered in several years of peace. Treaties such as this lay the groundwork for peace and cooperation between colonial powers and the areas Indigenous populations, and were tested and fractured time and again when European rivals clashed overseas and brought their conflict to the Americas.

In the area of North America that eventually became Canada, there have been five distinct phases of treaty making between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. These are the Peace and Friendship Treaties of eastern Canada from 1725 to 1779, the Robinson Treaties in 1850, The Douglas Treaties from 1850 to 1854, the Numbered Treaties from 1871 to 1921, after Confederation, and the Modern Treaties from 1922 to the present. One new one has just recently been signed, the Metis Treaty. Treaty making is an ongoing process to this day.

All of them were important. The Robinson treaties were particularly important for the region north of Lake Superior which we travelled through. And there were some big problems with those treaties that had to be resolved by the Supreme Court of Canada, 2 months before we began our trip to the east coast of Canada.

 

 

Discovery of Valuable Minerals around North Lake Superior not so Valuable

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous People After Contact

 

When Christiane and I arrived in Wawa this year we had a fine picnic lunch near the huge goose overlooking the lake.  We enjoyed 3 cheeses, cheddar, boursin, and brie. With coke we concluded with good reason, that life, at least for us, was good. Simple is good. We were very fortunate.

The area around Wawa was first developed by non-indigenous people during the fur trade. Indigenous people had occupied the area for thousands of years before that.  I never considered that fact in 1967. I did consider it now in 2024.  There is a fascinating history involving the relations of the First Nations people and the government of what used to be Canada West (Upper Canada). it is actually more than an interesting story. It is an incredible story.

This site was an important part of the fur trade route, at least until 1821 when the Hudson’s Bay Company and Northwest Company merged. After that the Lake Superior trade was diverted north to Hudson Bay via the Michipicoten River which we were overlooking when we enjoyed our picnic lunch, right beside the Wawa Goose.  This area was a centre for fishing, boat building, small-scale manufacture and repair. It also served as a base for missionaries and surveyors. The two vital instruments of colonialism.

In 1897 gold was discovered on Wawa lake adjacent to the town, but that flurry of activity it generated only lasted until 1906. In 1914 the completion of the Algoma Central Railway started with 22 mineral prospects.

The North Shore of Lake Superior is magnificent.  During the fur trade days travelling Lake Superior might have seemed simple. After all, could one not just follow the north coast? According to Barbara Huck, “even this could be hazardous for cliffs rise sheer from the water in a number of places, at times to heights of more than 150 metres. Skirting these walls of granite, the men had only to look up to see the power of the lake; in many places the cliffs were bare of any living thing for 10 metre above the water line.”  Huck explained that to avoid the winds that heating during the day could usher in, “the fur brigades usually set off before dawn, and then stuck to the beautiful, deadly shore and aimed for the next safe landing site.”

Reverend George Munro Grant wrote, “Superior is a sea. It breeds storms and rain and fog like a sea.” Nipigon, where we had enjoyed breakfast, according to Huck is named after the “deep clear water” or “water without end” of massive Lake Superior.  Huck also wrote this:

Paddlers still confront Lake Superior today, and still face the same beautiful, deadly shore. Thousands of years after humans first braved the water of the great lake, it remains as one chronicler wrote, “a place where man is and forever will be only a visitor.’ ”

The north shore of Lake Superior is more than just a beautiful coastline along the world’s largest freshwater lake. It is that, but it is much more than that.  It is a place where a lot of important history has occurred.  It was an important place in the history of Canada’s fur trade.  That means it is an important part of Canadas’s history after Europeans made contact with the indigenous people that lived in the country.

The town of Wawa is also very close to the Magpie River. After lunch we continued travelling but stopped at High Magpie Falls. This was a gorgeous set of falls and I could not refrain from photographing them. There were 2 interesting plaques nearby. One celebrated the Michipicoten First Nation. According to their own website,

 

“we are Anishinaabeg who understand our responsibility to care for our Nation. Under the guidance of Creator, our ancestors, and our history, we walk with our people to mino-biimaadiziwin (the good life, the life of wholistic well-being).,,

The Nation (original Peoples’) in their own Creation Story relates how “Ojibwe or Ojibway (pronounced Oh-Jib-Way) are related to Original Man or Anishinaabe (An-ish-in-awb). The Ojibway are said to be the Faith Keepers; Keepers of the Sacred Scrolls and the Water Drum of the Midewinwin (Midi-win-win shamanic society forhealers). The fundamental essence of Anishinaabe life is unity, the oneness of all things; the belief that harmony with all created things can be achieved and that the people cannot be separated from the land with its cycle of seasons or from the other mysterious cycles of living things – of birth and growth and death and new birth. The people know where they come from; the story is deep in their hearts and it is told in legends and dances, in dreams and symbols.”

 

They were the earliest inhabitants of the Michipicoten River region. They explain that the archeological sites excavated at the mouth of the Michipicoten River make it evident that there has been a continued uninterrupted occupation of this region by the aboriginal people for 7,000 years or more. Some of those archaeological sites that have been identified from the period just before the arrival of the Europeans (between 700-1500 AD) and those sites showed that the Ojibway people whose “summer grounds” were located at the mouth of the Michipicoten River  where members of tribes from the south and east who frequently intermarried The ancient canoe routes also showed that the mouth of the Michipicoten River and Magpie Rivers were a hubs of transportation and gateways to the interior as far north as James Bay with access to the vast interior of what is today northern Ontario and connecting it with the other Great Lakes and the inland sea of Hudson’s Bay.
After the arrival of Europeans, at the height of the fur trade from the 17th to 20th centuries, many Europeans who came to the region took Ojibway wives and their descendants lived the native way of life making a large part of their livelihood by fishing and trading furs with the Hudson’s Bay Company and other settlers.

There is another aspect to the history of this region to which I and my friends were entirely oblivious when we drove through it in 1967.  That year was of course, the year Canada celebrated the first 100 years after Confederation. We used to say, we were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the creation of our country. That was just plain ignorant. It ignored the incredible history and culture of the people who lived here long before the “whitemen” arrived.

There is some incredible history that happened right here. It is a history that teaches us a lot about what Canada was really like and none of it had been taught to the 4 of us who had just finished 12 years of schooling. 12 years of schooling that had left us ignorant.

Wawa Then: The Wild Ride of Youth  

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Meanderer

 

 

We had a fascinating stop in Wawa in 1967 and then an entirely different one, but just as fascinating, in 2024 for entirely different reasons.

Wawa is considered the Black Hole of Canada. Even in 1967 we heard stories of hitchhikers there getting stuck for days.

When I visited it this autumn, it reminded me of a glorious road trip I had taken with 4 friends in 1967. The infamous trip to Montreal. That was more than 50 years ago. We were all about 17 years old.   Sid Barkman, Eugene Reimer, Roy “Rocky” Kehler, Mike Penner, and I had travelled to Montreal to see Expo 67 in Sid’s less than stellar 1957 Chev.  We had 3 flat tires the first day. And more after that.  We had made a deal with Sid that he would be responsible for the cost of oil and the rest of us would pay for all the gasoline.  We thought Sid was getting off easy, as he deserved, since he supplied the vehicle, but it turned out that he probably paid as much for motor oil as we paid for gasoline. We could see black exhaust fuel trailing us most of the way.

I remember that in 1967 Sid had urged the rest of us to climb up onto the back of the Wawa goose and he would take our photograph.  The rest of us thought this was stupid and we did not follow instructions. That might have been a big mistake I would love to have that photograph now. Oh, the folly of youth!

That 1967 trip was made just before the end of the summer of 1967. 4 of us had just finished grade 12 and would soon be entering a new life. Eugene had already finished one year of university. He was a worldly traveler compared to the rest of us rubes from the sticks. We all had our dreams and lives in front of us. We were on the precipice of we did not know what. Flying off on the back of a goose would have been a glorious send off. But sadly, we demurred.

We had just learned to drink that summer, even though the legal drinking age was 21. Near Wawa, we stopped at a café for lunch  and when the waitress asked us what we wanted to drink, we shyly looked at each other and no one spoke until Rocky, the youngest and shortest and bravest of us, piped up, “I’ll have a cherry brandy.” When the waitress did not bat an eyelash at that, I chimed in, “And I’ll have a martini.”  I wanted to be cool and had seen James Bond order that in a movie. At least I didn’t request it to be “Shaken not stirred.”  The rest of the lads quickly made similar requests and we were in business.

In Montreal we spent a lot of time in pavilions and bars and ‘rides’ at La Ronde.  To us that was high culture. The folly of youth again. Not much culture was absorbed, but we did learn things at those pavilions. Our attempts to attract girls met with little success, as was to be expected of such hayseeds.  There were few girls around stupid enough to look at us.

Our time in Montreal was a glorious adventure. Every night we slept in my leaky tent. One night, we visited a night club in the city of Montreal and amazingly met some older and wiser Steinbach boys who looked down on us with bemusement. One of the boys spent his last dollar in Montreal to buy Russian cigarettes and had to beg the rest of us for change to eat on the way home. One phoned the manager of the Credit Union back home to verify to a restauranteur that his cheque for dinner would be good. In Wawa we spent the night. As we left in the morning,  the police followed us out of town to make sure we had no ideas of sticking around. The Head of the Chamber of Commerce would not have welcomed a scruffy bunch like us.

It was a  trip I am sure none of us will ever forget. That was what it felt like. For us it was one last glorious adventure before we became adults. It actually took. a long time for adulthood to catch us, if it ever did. By the time we were traveling home we were all broke. Virtually all of us were on verge of bankruptcy. Our entire net worth splurged. But what a great cause.

But I still wish we had sailed that Goose in Wawa as Sid had begged. He had the right idea. The rest of us were dullards.

 

Coming. Jesus

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Wabi-Sabi

 

Driving along the Trans-Canada highway this fall, we saw some very dilapidated buildings.  I remember in particular an old church in Upsala, Ontario. Sadly, after the seeing the church beside the road, I did not drive back to photograph it. As a meanderer I consider such stops a personal obligation. This time I muffed it and kept on going.  This I now believe was a serious failure, but I am stuck with it unless I drive all the way back to photograph it.

 

A little farther along the Trans-Canada Highway, I marvelled at an old beat-up sign beside the road that said, “Coming. Jesus.” A simple message. How long had it been there? Sooth Sayers have been saying for 2,000 years that the return of Jesus is imminent. They have been wrong. So far. Recently I heard about some people in Steinbach who are not worried about climate change.  Jesus is coming don’t worry about the future. That’s their attitude.

 

How far can we carry such logic?  Should we not worry about which side of the road we drive on? Should we quit our jobs (if we have them) and really enjoy life? Should we sell all our worldly goods and prepare to meet Jesus? That is actually what Jesus recommended, yet I don’t see too many people doing that.

 

When I passed this sign, I thought of that abandoned church in Upsala I had passed.  Were the parishioners getting ready for the arrival of Jesus? Is that why they abandoned the church or did the dream fizzle out?

 

We also noticed a number of gas service stations were closed, even though the Internet said they were still in business. After the second such station was closed, many kilometres apart, we began to get nervous.  We were frankly worried we would run out of gas before we got to the next open gas bar. Were the owners of those stations just  heeding the advice of Jesus?  Had they sold everything or just abandoned the business? That might be good for them but would be unfortunate for us.

 

I also noticed the Gloria’s Motel. It certainly was no longer glorious. This time I stopped for a couple of photographs. It was in pretty bad shape, but I’m not sure it was the worst motel along the Trans-Canada highway as we were to learn. Others are pretty bad too. How is this possible along our national highway? Thankfully, there were some great ones too.

 

All I say to fellow travellers is: Be Prepared. In fact, be prepared for the worst.

 

The Recipe for Disaster in The Recipe

Abortion, Drama

 

The Recipe for Disaster in The Recipe

 

There is a second theme in Armin Wiebe’s play the Recipe that I wanted to address. This is the abortion attempted by Sadie and contemplated by Oata. Sadie’s at least seems only casually and quickly considered and completed.

This reminds me of the fact that the landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States of America in Roe v. Wade, on abortion rights in America. That decision gave constitutional protection to a woman’s rights to an abortion in that country in every state. Many now forget that when that decision was rendered it was not unpopular and was not even widely criticized. Many took it for granted.

Over the decades since, the evangelical Christian movement in particular has marshalled lots of opposition to that decision. Now the Supreme Court in a fairly recent case, amidst huge controversy, reversed itself, to remove that woman’s right. Instead it said, state governments could decide whether or not abortions would be permitted in states.

In the play, Sade, one of the “loves” of Yasch Siemens chooses that option without a lot of thought and without opposition from anyone else, including Yasch. Oata, his other lover, seriously contemplates having one as well in her dark night of the soul. Yasch does not seem engaged by the enterprise. Pug Peters seems oblivious. Perhaps he is just an airhead. Yasch is just confused by his attraction to both women, for very different reasons. No one pays attention to the foetus.  No one pays attention to Yasch or Pug on this subject. Their opinions are not solicited. They are not needed. No medical, police or religious authorities are consulted. Sadie just does it. Other than Oata, no one even seems to wrestle with the decision.

I was amused that Oata got the “recipe” for the abortion from an old recipe of her grandmother in a book that to me looked like the Mennonite Treasury of Recipes. I never saw it there. The recipe seemed pretty simple. We have been told there was such a recipe. Is it that easy to abort a foetus? If so, why all the fuss and muss?

I actually believe the mother should have the right to make such a decision. But I know many disagree with me, particularly in the Mennonite community. But I found it interesting that the play devoted so little attention to this aspect of the decision which has become so hugely polarizing since the Roe decision. Why was that?

 

The Recipe

Drama, Mennonites

 

The Recipe 

By Armin Wiebe

 

Recently, Christiane and I and friends Dave and MaryLou Driedger went to see Armin Wiebe’s play, The Recipe. I admit I was confused by this play. I wanted to love this play. I was eager to love it. But sadly, my ardour was cool.

Friends had lauded it. To me the reality of the play undercut the desire to love it. I was frankly confused by it. I missed something.  This is probably true in more than one sense. I have a hearing deficiency that is not overcome entirely with modern hearing aids. When the actors turned away from me, I had a hard time hearing them. Their voices were loud enough but not clear enough. I heard the crowd laughing at lines, but I failed to understand the joke. So, perhaps, the fault lies with me, and not the play. I hope so. After all Armin Wiebe is a brilliant writer. Half the crowd gave the play a standing ovation, but by Winnipeg standards that is not rousing success, but mediocrity.

The play was inspired by an earlier book by Wiebe, The Salvation of Yasch Siemens which I loved.

I thought the idea behind the play, embodied by Oata, a grand if not magnificent female character, was that women can be independent of men and triumph over their attempted subjugation, though it is difficult and challenging. After all, we live in a deeply patriarchal society that has taken centuries to become entrenched and won’t easily be dislodged. Yet, in the end, after a passionate embrace, Oata succumbs to the blandishments of a weak and wobbly man who lusts after her skinny rival Sadie and also Oata’s recently inherited property. That is hardly a grand triumph. It was pipsqueak at best.

I invite others to tell me why I am wrong. I still want to love it.