Ontario: Indigenous Tour

Bytown Museum celebrates Colonel By Day annually. I'd love to fill this post with information about Colonel By that I learned at the museum. Best as I've gleaned, he was the leader of the early European settlers back when Ottawa was a measly lumber town. The town was named for him, Bytown, and he has earned his place in the white history books.

This post, though, is about the Indigenous walking tour led by Jaime Morse, founder of Indigenous Walks. Jaime started these walks when her children were little as a way to teach them about their cultural history, and how they can see themselves. Jamie is Nehiway/Michif from Alberta, Canada. She offers these talks for a fee. We were lucky August 3rd was a free tour day. If you are in Ottawa, I recommend seeking her out.

First off she made it clear that we were standing on unceded, un-surrendered Indigenous land. No one was conquered here. No treaty took play.

Before it was Bytown, the area surrounding the Ottawa River was a thriving community where canal paths crossed, and people gathered from different tribes. There were many nations represented. They traveled through waterfalls and rapids to end up at this resting place called Pimisi Station, pimisi means eel, and animal Indigenous people used every part of for medicine, skins, food, etc. In those days the area was full of forests. By cutting down the trees, the eels were effected.

Jaime taught us about canoes. You never show a canoe without its paddles. Canoes were built from different trees: ash for its ribs, birch bark for the outside, spruce to wrap around, and black sap made from animal brains to make it waterproof. 

There are still Indigenous tribes, but they are not in Ottawa.

During the War of 1812 Indigenous people fought on the side of the British, which is the main reason the British won. If not, Canada would have been part of the United States. They fought for their sovereignty. To this day, many Indigenous people do not want to be called Canadians. There are 800 reserved lands held by the government to parse out to the tribes. Some have 50 people, others have thousands. These are called communities. "Reservations" is a term used in the United States.

Inside Chateau Laurier we saw some First Nations art.

We ended the tour on this warm day in front of the statue of Joseph Brent, a Mohawk. His statue shows how he dressed in a combination of Indigenous and Western styles. He knew many dignitaries on both sides and became a conduit between them. He is wearing puffy sleeves, but a bag made out of tanned hide and a traditional blanket.

From here the group returned to the start to see the dedication of the Celtic Cross which is acknowledging the Indigenous heroes who helped the Irish in the early days of their living in Bytown.