Gifts of Indigenous Knowledge

Drew Milligan

I have lived in the Kawarthas for more than thirty years. I have watched those wild places that I love get crowded away by development. People seem to want to dig out the wetlands that support the wildlife, birds, fish, amphibians and mammals that the natural state of the Kawarthas has supported in abundance. A landscaped shoreline, pristine but sterile, seems to appeal to some of the people who have moved up from the city.

After years of complaining and doing nothing, someone convinced me that the best way to protect the Kawarthas from overdevelopment was through supporting the treaty and inherent rights of the Michi Saagiig people, as affirmed by the Williams Treaty settlement.

And that involvement has led to an enrichment of my life that I didn’t anticipate. The Michi Saagiig people have given me the gifts of their culture and their friendship, and I have learned how much more effective I can be as a member of a team.

My square evokes the canoe and paddle, a machine of simple design refined to a state of perfection. Any canoe that paddles well is a descendent of the birch bark canoe. The technology is dependent on living in the north woods where birch trees grow large. One cannot build a dug-out canoe that is as light and as fleet.

And, as much as I have learned, the fire to the Michi Saagiig people is a symbol of transformation. In the ceremonies in which I participated, sacred plants are transformed into smoke. And fire heats the rocks that are referred to as grandfathers, which are the vehicles of the transformation that occurs within the sweat lodge.