Since Time Immemorial, “Our Story” - Canadian Archaeological ...

Since Time Immemorial, “Our Story”:
The Story of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinàbeg
by Stephen McGregor. Kitigan Zibi Education Council, Maniwaki,
Québec. 344 pp., illust., bib. ISBN 0-9734910-1-9 (paperback) $50. 2004.
and
Algonquin Traditional Culture: The Algonquin of the
Kitchissippi Valley: Traditional Culture at the Early Contact
Period
by Kirby J. Whiteduck. Council of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan.
150 pp., illust., bib. ISBN 0-9733543-0-5 (paperback) $30. 2002.
Book Reviews
In his last major publication before
he died, James F. Pendergast (1999)
attempted to situate the Ottawa River
Algonquin within the framework of the
St. Lawrence Iroquoian world that he
knew so well. These two groups had been
coeval, yet little was known of their possible
and expected interactions due to the
St. Lawrence Iroquoian disappearance
shortly after Jacques Cartier’s 1534-35
description—or so we believed. Moreover,
the late precontact period in the
Ottawa Valley has had a distinct lack of
sustained archaeological research compared
to the veritable bonanza of data
pertaining to the St. Lawrence Iroquoians.
Pendergast bemoaned the lack of
access to Algonquin oral tradition relating
to the critical time when Europeans
were first entering the great valley of the
Kichi Sibi (“Great River”) and political
and social events were unfolding that
would forever change the human landscape
of that vast region: “The failure
to incorporate Ottawa River Algonquin
oral traditions undoubtedly has skewed
this discussion in favor of the European
sources … Had Ottawa River Algonquin
oral traditions been available for study
in a manner similar to that which other
sources are made available for public
scrutiny, they too would have been incorporated”
(1999: 113).
The two publications reviewed here
usher in new and significant sources of
information for those interested in the
Ottawa Valley. Both authors are elected
chiefs within their respective communities.
Kirby Whiteduck of Pikwakanagan
(elected chief in 2003 and again in
2005) and Stephen McGregor of Kitigan
Zibi (elected chief in 2006) belong to a
new generation of Native leaders who
are involved in efforts to learn about
and revitalize their cultures. Whiteduck,
who holds a B.A. in Social Anthropology
from York University and has begun an
M.A. in Social Work at Carleton Univer-
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Since Time Immemorial/Algonquin Traditional Culture • 333
sity, has been involved in the Golden
Lake land claim process for many years
as a researcher, archivist and negotiator.
McGregor’s passions are writing and storytelling,
including radio, screenplays,
novels and community exhibitions.
He also participated in archaeological
excavations undertaken by the community
of Kitigan Zibi at Kabeshinàn
at the mouth of the Gatineau River in
2001 and 2002, learning firsthand about
traditional material culture from the
Middle Woodland period. Both authors
are committed to producing useful
sources of information about their
heritage and communities to be shared
with the larger public. While both would
immediately acknowledge the absolutely
critical role of the knowledge held by
their elders, they also accept that other
valid and important sources of information
about the past exist in the form of
written records kept in archives, old
photographs, travelers’ narratives, and
similar sources.
These two books also demonstrate
the willingness of the respective communities
to endorse these projects. In
both instances, the publications were
made possible through the financial support
and assistance of the band councils.
These organizations have many issues to
deal with on a daily basis and the decision
to divert funds towards the publication
of a book about history cannot be
an easy one. That they did (and it must
be pointed out that neither author was
chief at the time) is, in my opinion, very
much to their credit.
Whiteduck’s objective in undertaking
the research and publication of
Algonquin Traditional Culture was to bring
together pertinent and useful information
about his Nation for anyone intent
on studying the Algonquin of the early
contact period. His book facilitates and
encourages further research and demonstrates
the wealth of information that
exists and is accessible to scholars. In
this way, he takes up the challenge put
forward by Daniel Clément (1996: 4)
in The Algonquins, where he stated that
the “Algonquin should never again be
considered as one of the most unknown
Native groups in the literature.”
For some time now, the chronicles
sent to France from Canada by the Jesuit
priests during the 17 th and 18 th centuries
have been available via the internet. At
the Library and Archives Canada website,
one can consult images of every
page of the original French language
documents or their late-19 th /early-20 th
century English translations (http://
www.collectionscanada.ca/jesuit-relations/index-e.html).
A fully searchable
text version of Reuben Gold Thwaites’
translation, The Jesuit Relations and Allied
Documents, can also be accessed online
(http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/
relations/). Scholars thus have much
flexibility in their research approach.
Whiteduck’s book is essentially a
compilation of references to things
Algonquin found within the Jesuit Relations
and other relevant publications
(Champlain’s and Sagard’s narratives,
for example). These have been grouped
into a number of chapters that reflect
the categories of data available: Social
Structure and Customs, Subsistence
Patterns and Economic Customs, Material
Culture, Political Structure and
Customs, Spiritual Beliefs and Religious
Customs, Medicines, Legends and
Tales. These chapters are prefaced by
a synthesis of the general archaeological
view of the region’s ancient history.
Although archaeologists will not find
new information in this section, its very
presence is heartening and suggests
that Whiteduck views archaeology as
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334 • Pilon
capable of providing useful information,
and that it is not the sole domain
of Euro-Canadians.
In his presentation of the data,
Whiteduck makes extensive use of
lengthy quotations from the English
translations of the historic texts, which
he usually prefaces with commentary
intended to shed light on the context
of the observation. He also provides
syntheses of the customs being detailed
because the language of the original can
be somewhat obtuse and may reflect
the original observers’ unfamiliarity
with the cultural context, a situation
sometimes compounded by the translation
process. Whiteduck recognizes that
these early observers carried a lot of cultural
and philosophical baggage during
their travels in the Ottawa Valley–lower
Great Lakes region, and he cautions the
reader against being too harsh in evaluating
their work. The background of the
writers and the context within which
they were recording this information
imposed very real limits on their ability
to comprehend particular customs
and practices, and greatly colored their
reporting:
When one reads the Jesuit descriptions
of the Algonquins and other
aboriginal nations as pagans,
heathens, savages, infidels, filthy,
arrogant and surly, one must be
mindful that they are the descriptions
and writings of people who
were from a different country that
had a vastly different culture and a
Christian worldview with concrete
opinions as to who is superior and
right in God’s opinion. Since their
intent was to eliminate and abolish
the aboriginal way of life and to
replace it with a Christian and civilized
one, then their descriptions
and opinions of the Indians and
their aboriginal way of life were
rarely favourable (p. 5).
Given that the Internet now makes
all of this material readily available and
the extensive documents easily searchable,
a legitimate question would be to
ask whether it was worthwhile publishing
such a book. In response, I would
argue that by collating this information,
contextualizing it, and providing critical
commentary, Whiteduck has added
much that simply finding this information
electronically could not have
offered. As such, this work is a valuable
contribution to research on the first
inhabitants of the Ottawa Valley.
Since Time Immemorial, “Our Story”
is a different kind of book entirely.
The research presented in this volume
was actually begun in 1975 by Pauline
Decontie, a Kitigan Zibi schoolteacher,
picked up again by Ernest McGregor in
1980, and finally completed by Stephen
McGregor, assisted by Sandra Diabo-
Decontie and James Odjick as researchers.
This is the history of the Kitigan Zibi
community. The book is divided into two
parts, consisting of nine units with a total
of 23 chapters.
Part One begins with creation and
first peopling, and ends with the experiences
of Ottawa Valley Anishinàbeg
under European colonial regimes.
The first unit attempts to set the stage
whereby the place of the Anishinàbeg
as the legitimate heirs of Native history
in this region is established. It begins
with a recounting of traditional stories
of creation, not solely the Anishinàbeg
one, recognizing that there are multiple
accounts that crosscut cultural boundaries.
This is a tacit recognition that the
current membership of the Kitigan Zibi
Anishinàbeg can trace connections to
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Since Time Immemorial/Algonquin Traditional Culture • 335
different cultures that equally deserve
respect. In a similar vein, the scientific
account of the creation of the Ottawa
Valley is presented along with limited
archaeological information pertaining
to its early inhabitants. In one respect,
this is a claiming process whereby the
distant past is declared pertinent to the
current Native descendants of those
distant bands regardless of the ethnic
and cultural labels they may have held
or have since had ascribed to them. It
legitimately takes possession of a past
with which they, more than anyone else,
identify in a very real sense. It is also an
unstated acknowledgement that archaeology
can provide their community
with important evidence of their past
and a connection to their ancestors.
In fact, archaeology serves as a foundation
for describing the process whereby
the Kichi Sibi Anishinàbeg came into
being:
… the Paleo evolved into the
Archaic peoples. As the population
of the Archaic people increased,
they dispersed into regions to
maintain the balance of game animals.
It was through this evolutionary
process that the Anishinàbe of
the Eastern Woodlands came to
be … One of these groups was the
Kichi Sibi Anishinàbeg, the people
who lived along the Ottawa River
and its tributaries (p. 18).
McGregor also describes some of
the characteristics that serve as ethnic
markers for the Kichi Sibi Anishinàbeg
people themselves: the importance of
the birch back canoe, hunting, trade,
some elements of social structure, and
the place of the Kichi Sibi (the Ottawa
River) as a network of communication
over vast areas.
Subsequent units detail Canadian
history from the perspective and involvement
of the Anishinàbeg. This was one
of the most interesting aspects of the
book. Although approached chronologically,
the focus is not so much the presentation
of the time period as an attempt to
insert the Anishinàbeg into that period.
The story is not new, but the reader’s
attention is constantly being drawn away
from those who have been considered
the main actors and brought to bear
on those who seem to sit quietly on the
sidelines, yet are markedly impacted by
what was happening on center stage.
As one who was raised in the Ottawa
Valley, I was disturbed by the number of
times where my reaction to a new bit of
information about yet another bruising
the Anishinàbeg community had suffered,
was to observe that “I didn’t know
that.” So much for what remained of my
innocence!
The second part of the book deals
with the circumstances that compelled
a group of Anishinàbeg under the
leadership of Paginawatik to leave the
reserve that had been accorded them
by the king of France at Oka to establish
a community at the confluence of the
Gatineau and Desert Rivers. From this
initial settlement, lands were slowly, but
surely, taken, surrendered and given
away until little remained. Throughout
this section, which brings us up to the
present day, we learn about how the
community changed and adapted to new
circumstances and hurdles—it is a story
of survival.
McGregor rightly points out the
contributions that his forefathers have
made throughout the four centuries of
Anishinàbeg–European relations, and
he points out how they so often seemed
to have lost out in their “beaux risques.”
As an avid student of military history,
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336 • Pilon
he often frames his discussion of events
in the language of military strategy or
deals extensively with military developments.
An entire chapter is devoted
to the contributions of Kitigan Zibi
Anishinàbeg to the First World War, and
later chapters document the community’s
continued military contributions
(World War II, Korea, Vietnam). After
all, is not putting your life, or the lives
of your sons, on the line the ultimate
price for respect? Is that not enough
to earn proper treatment as a people?
Yet nearly every time period saw the
loss of land, the loss of rights, the loss
of respect.
The book is lavishly illustrated with
archival watercolor drawings, original
pen and ink artwork by Kitigan Zibi
artist Dean Ottawa, maps, and photographs.
Chapter texts are also complemented
with short vignettes, set off
from the main text by a birch-bark-like
background, constantly reminding the
reader of the historical importance
and cultural significance of that tree.
McGregor also provides numerous colorful
stories that recreate some of the
human dimension of the times detailed
in each chapter.
Some historians may quibble with
facts and interpretations presented in
this work, which may occasionally appear
harsh. For example, McGregor states
that, “The ultimate purpose of Christianity
was to convert all nations and all
people to the word of Jesus Christ. This
set the stage for 2,000 years of religious
conflicts worldwide” (p. 32). Elsewhere
we read that, “Alcohol was the catalyst
that disrupted First Nations society and
its introduction by the Europeans four
hundred years ago remains to this day,
the longest running genocide of First
Nations communities” (p. 84). Careful,
critical, contextual reading is recommended.
However, there seems to be
such an overwhelming amount of data
pointing to the systematic marginalization
and exploitation of the Anishinàbeg
community that it cannot be denied. Yet,
children are still taught in non-Native
schools about some idealized time
before the arrival of Samuel de Champlain
when Native people lived in the
Ottawa Valley “in harmony with nature.”
We learn how Champlain’s arrival began
the disruption of traditional patterns
and how the Anishinàbeg withdrew
from the river following intense raiding
by marauding Iroquois and lived on
the valley’s edges. History then begins
in earnest with the arrival of Philemon
Wright in 1800 (but not really because
he settled on the Quebec side of the
river) and especially with Lt. Col. John
By and the building of the Rideau Canal
some 30 years later. The rest, as they say,
is history—but a history that no longer
includes Native people.
Algonquin Traditional Culture and From
Time Immemorial differ in their purposes,
yet they complement each other quite
well. Each provides details of periods
not covered by the other or dealt with
only superficially. Whiteduck’s book
reads as an ethnographic/ethnohistoric
treatment of contact period Anishinàbeg
culture, while McGregor’s presents
political and economic history from that
time onward, liberally sprinkled with
an Anishinàbeg perspective, in order
to understand the present-day Ottawa
Valley Anishinàbeg and more specifically
the community of Kitigan Zibi.
In my opinion, the information
contained in these books should be
integrated into the history curricula of
the Ottawa Valley’s schools, regardless
of which side of the river the students
live on or what their ethnic origins
are. The story of what happened to the
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Since Time Immemorial/Algonquin Traditional Culture • 337
Anishinàbeg needs to be known and
understood by Natives and non-Natives
alike. If nothing else, knowledge of
this history would facilitate the general
public’s understanding of why Eastern
Ontario, for example, is currently the
subject of a comprehensive land claim
and that we are legally squatters on
someone else’s land. This would provide
much-needed detail to the otherwise
hollow-sounding affirmation that before
Champlain, “First Nations used to live
here.” In this regard, I am certain that
Jim Pendergast would have welcomed
both of these publications.
REFERENCES CITED
Clément, D.
1996 The Algonquins. Canadian Ethnology
Service Mercury Series No.130,
Canadian Museum of Civilization,
Hull.
Pendergast, J.F.
1999 Ottawa River Algonquin Bands
in a St. Lawrence Iroquoian Context.
Canadian Journal of Archaeology 23:
63–136.
Jean-Luc Pilon
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Gatineau, Québec
Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 30 (2006)