1967-1999

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Bre g down Barriers:

MCC Ontario and Ontario Native Communities, 1967-1999

Lucille Marr, Az[gtlstnrzn Urziversily College

Questions conceniing Aboriginal-Men~~onite relations have been with me my entire life.

The more I am exposed to the issues, tlie more urgent becomes the need to address them. I grew up near Springvale, Ontario, just two kilometres from tlie Indian line that borders tlie SixNations Reservation between Hagersville and Brantford. Children from both sides ofthe Indian iine attended the two-room schoolhouse in our village of Springvale, and we went to each other's birthday parties. The pastor ofthe Brethren in Christ Church tliat I attended as a child, Paul Nigh, and liis father John Nigh before him, rented land on the reserve. They also officiated at tlie wedding ceremonies of many Indian couples and held countless funerals. My parents were pait ofour small cliurch's Sunday morning mission, picking up native children and bringing them to Sunday School. My father was ameclianic and people fro111 tlie Abo- riginal comniunity were also among liis business associates. At some point when I was growing up, I discovered tliat my great-great grandmother had been a Chippewa India11 and this also gave us personal ties on the other side oftlie line.

Amidst these connections, as a child I was aware ofthe psychological barrier that tlie Indian iine represented. Racism was also a part of my experience. Despite my great-great grandniotlier's heritage, I h e w I was wliite and I knew that to be white meant that I lived on the right side ofthe line. In the midst ofrelationships with our aboriginal sisters aid brothers, 1 was taught that our ways were superioi. These mixed messages left me with considerable

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Brenkirrg do~vrr Bnrriers: MCC Orrtario and Ontario iVnfi~~e Conrnrrrrritics, 1967-1999 79

confusion and a strong sense ofthe injustices that Euro-Canadians liave perpetrated against our aboriginal neighbours. I have no doubt but that my academic interest in aboriginal history and native-white relations stems from my personal past.

Tlie SixNations reservation is what remains of Missaussaga land tliat the British government assigned to Joseph Brant and his Iroquois people in the late eighteenth century as compensation for their support during the American Revolution. Reginald Good has shown in his study of Mississauga-Mennonite relations in the Upper Grand River Valley in tlie late eighteenth century that "an accurate assessment of Aboriginal-newcomer relations

...

must begin with the recognition tliat the land onto whicli Europeans moved was not vacant but already occupied by dynamic and creative peoples."' Today this remnant is one among nearly 200 reserves in Ontario, which stretch into two million acres of land. On these tracts live more tlian 100,000 people in 130 First Nations or bands. As in the past, these territories continue to be in jeopardy, threatened by land-liun,gy white entrepreneurs. At last count, there were more than 50 land claims in Ontario.'

Some thirty years ago, Mennonite Central Committee began to concern itselfwith tlie long history of injustices suffered by aboriginal people. When looking specifically at MCC Ontario, three themes emerge: breaking down barriers by building relationships through aid in gardening and k i n g enterprises, educating tlie Mennonite constituency and attempting to advocate on behalf of Aboriginal peoples. Doug Rotli, a young man who also grew up in Hagersville close to tlie SixNations reserve, put it well at the end of his two year assignment at tlie Ininew Friendship Centre and Coffee House in Cochrane: "I question whether atwo- year VS assignment can ever tackle a set of problems

...

extending back over niore years tlian Canada's confederation." What was iniportant, lie stressed, was "breaking down barrier~."~

Olive Dickason, a niktis historian well-known for her history, Car7acla's First Nnlions, has pointed out tliat despite their earlier histories of co~iiplicity with government, in recent years the churches have been among the most supportive of indigenous concerns." Tlie purpose of my investigation, then, is to assess how much MCCO's activities suppol-t Dickason's hypothesis. Native concerns has been on the MCCO agenda for tlie past tliree decades. Questions which arise are as follows: What contribution has MCC Ontario made to Aboriginal-Mennonite relations? What part liave Aboriginal people taken in this relationship? How has MCC Ontario worked at playing out a theology which enipliasizes justice?

Have Ontario Mennonites been able to cross the line, to meet aboriginal people where they are hurting?

Crossing the Line

Mennonite Central Committee Ontario's relationship with Aboriginal peoples illustrates that the Mennonite role has been one ofrespondent. Historians are fi nally recognizing that indigenous peoples, in tnrth, have always set their own agenda5 Certainly in the period since tlie Trudeau government's infamous White Paper of 1969, Indian protests, rooted in a long history of injustice, have set the stage. Government and the churches have followed. As David T. McNab notes in his study ofnative land claims in Ontario, "many ofthe issues liave

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been around for as long as 200 years and are now filmly embedded in

...

rich oral tradition

-

[aborigilial] Iiistoty

-

as real grievances that affect [aboriginal] control overtheir lives.""

Even before the White Paper, wit11 the support of Indian Affairs, Aboriginal people had put up apavilion at Expo in Montseal to celebrate Canada's Centennial year. Dickason has noted tliat tl~rougli it "they publicly expressed, for the first time on a national scale, dissatis- faction with tlieir lot." This public action followed the Hawthorne repol-t which had come out the previous yeas. Ha\vthonie's study showed tliat the average annual income for Indians was $600 coliipared to $1 400 for white Canadiails. Further, Native youth suffered a94%

high scliool dropout rate.' As historian J.R. Miller explains, "[tllie social and econolnic con- ditions in wliicli natives in Canada live - or, more accut-ately, exist

-

areanational disgrace.

Indiari cliildren are more likely than the general population to be born outside astable nuclear family, are far less likely to complete enough schoolingto obtain ajob and become self- sustaining, are much more liiglily represented in the figures of unemployed and incarcet-ated people tlian the rest ofthe population, and have shorter life expectancy than most others in the counhy.""

Mennonites were among tliose Canadians who, to q~lote Dicliason, "reacted witli stunned disbeliefthat people in Canada wet-e being treated in such a nianner."3imilar to those in otl~erc1iurclies, Mennonites felt compelled to respond to the Hawthorne report and the native pavilion. 111 June 1967, for instance, long-time MCC supporter Comie Renipel travelled %om Kitchener to Winnipeg to attend a workshop liigliligliting Mennonite missions to Indian peoples. He was an~ong tliose who heard anthropologist Jacob Loewen insist that

"missions sliould 'prepare for obsolescence'." Rempel carried the ideatliat the new role for missions was simply to provide a frame ofreference for aboriginal people Yo workout their own social, religious, and economic systems," back to Ontario with him."' Shortly after- ward. Mennonite delegates explored tlieir role further at the second annual meeting ofthe Indian-Eskimo Association of Canada, wliere they heard speakers deride the minimal contact between Indians and whites."

These initiatives brought responses in Winnipeg, and in ICitchener. While Dan Zehr, the Ontario born and bred director for MCC Canada's Peace and Social Concet-ns, directed a study on Indian, Metis and Eskimo communities, some in the MCC Ontario constituency felt compelled to also explore the issue closerto home." In 1968. a committee of6 visited 16 Ontario reselves and two in Alberta. Aftertouring Sioux Lookout, Pikangikum, Deer Lake, Noltli Spirit Lake, Round Lalie, Sachigo, ICingfisher Lalie, Wunnummin Lalie, Assabannica, Bearskin Lake. Big Trout Lake, Poplar Hill and Sandy Lake in Ontario's nortl~, and Cape Crolcer, Oneida Reselve, and tlie SixNations in tlie soutl~, the committee also visited Calling Lake and Sandy Lake in Alberta, where mission p r o g m s had been in place for some years.

This espesience acquainted them witli the incredible diversity anlong Ontario and Alberta's native communities. They recommended tliat MCC Ontario hire a co-ordinator in coopera- tion with MCC Canada. They saw a real need for someone in the Mennonite com~iiunity to devote tlieir energies to keeping abreast oftlie issues in the various native con1n1unities.l~

This Mennotiite attempt to cross the boundaries by educating themselves about the needs and problems ofOntariols aboriginal people cane at what Harold Cardinal, who was then president oftlie Indian Association of Alberta, has called atuming point among native people. In 1967 theNationa1 Indian Brotlierhood was born. When the Depai-tment of Indian

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Breakirrg rlo~vrr Barriers: AlCC Otrrario arrrl Ontario h'a'ntitle Co~nrrrr~rri~ies, 1967-1999 8 1

Affairs responded predictably to the Hawthome report with their infamous White Paper, the Indian organization promptly rejected it. Naming itC'genocidal" in its attempt to cancel the Indian Act, Aboriginal leadership adopted tlie Indian Chiefs of Alberta's position paper,

"Citizens Plus," also known as the "Red Paper."'-' This would be followed by avariety of protests, including a number of stand-offs, as aboriginal people developed a canny political awareness and began to resist economic development which threatened to disrupt their way of life.I5

Tliese changes on the Canadian scene occurred alongside the civil rights movement south ofthe border. Mennonites had begun to respond to these undercurrents with an altered view oftheir role in tlie world. In the words ofsociologists Leo Driedger and Donald Kraybill,

"tlie politics ofJesus filtered into action as a wave of 'Peace and Justice' thinking crested in Mennonite circles."'Becoming attuned to structul-al sins along witli their American counter- parts, MCC Canada began "talking about Canada's Third World" and adopted native con- cems among other peace and social issues such as international affairs, capital punishment, penal refomi, problems of urbanization, poverty and affluence.''

By 1974, tlie national organization had placed Menno Wiebe as first full-time director of native concerns. His mandate was to draw federal and provincial governments, and the public, to native issues. MCC Canada had thus begun to see itselfas "an advocate" for aboriginal people, and would stand alongside them in their atteiiipts to obtain justice in such areas as hydro development in northern Manitoba and pipeline construction in the North- west territ~ries.'~ MCC Canada's decision to take menibership in ProjectNorth, an inter- church coalition in support of native rights, refimied Mennonite goals from focussing prirna- rily on serviceto doing tlieir work in the contex%ofthe"call for Christian justice."'" Mennonites thus began to work witli otlier Christian churches to come into relationship with native people and '~lieir calls for a responsible custodianship ofthe environment which is entrusted to US."""

Ontario Mennonites would move more slowly. The MCCO Indian Study Con7111ittee attempted to keep up by immersing themselves in tlie Red Paper. They also prepared a bibliography of sugested readings for constituents. But they moved tentatively. When the Union of Ontario Indians asked them to endorse their organization, for instance, MCCO hesitated. This would be too political for the constituency to handle at this time, they pro- tested.?' They would begin in tlie domain in which they felt most comfortable by offering assistance in gardening and fann projects, and by providingdisaster service.

Followingthis decision, MCCO responded with excitement when band leaders from tlie Cape Croker reservation near Wiarton requested help in tlieir new agricultural pro,mi, and when the Cree communities at Attawapiskat and Moose Factory further north on James Bay, called on them for help in gardening projects." From ancient times, aboriginal survival has been based on the ability to adapt.23 Decades earlier, Basil Johnston of Cape Croker had noted that "before the Indian people can move forward and break down economic, social, and political impediments, the mass ofthe people must first overcome their want of confidence

...

At the political level, they must seize and conduct their own community affairs."" An important aspect ofthis political awareness was economic development. Well- hiown fortheir w'cultural skills, Mennonites might prove to be asolid ally.

JohnNadjiwon, the economic development councillor ofthe Chippewas oftheNawash

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Band, responded entliusiastically to MCCO staffperson Dave Worth's invitation to tour several Mennonite farm operations. A new relationship began one September day in 1979, when Nadjiwon and several others from Cape Croker drove several hours soutli to St.

Jacobs to inspect a cowlcalf operation and a market garden. Following the tour, Nadjiwon tliaillied Worth: "But there is one thing Dave we sure had avery, very good time and it is one tliat we will remember for quite some tinie and it gave tlie members some very good ideas and yo~i slio~~ld have been in the car on the way back, the wlieels were sureturning as to the plans tliat where (sic) flying through the air for next year.""

The following sumliier, MCCO responded to Nadjiwon's request for input by sending Howard and EIva Fretz, retired Brethren in Christ fainers, to Cape Crolier. By fall, Len and Gwen Sclilicting, teachers from Maiitobatrained respectively in animal husbandry, and nu- trition and home econoniics, were also working witli Nadj iwon to help matiage tlie Commu- nity Farm Project.'Witli this developing relationship, MCCO began to respond more po- litically to native requests Yo be heard, tliat we ~iiiglit understand tlieir conflicts and position."

They also began to recognize that crossing the line would mean educating tlie Mennonite constituency. In this spirit, the board invited Nadjiwon to speali at the 1980 annual meeting.

Nadj iwon infortiled delegates of his band's agricultural history, of how tlieir economy had shifted fiom agriculture to fishing, and now back to agriculture. Tliaiking MCC for its support, he closed his talk witli "aprayer oftlianksgiving.""

Meanwhile, MCC volunteers emphasized tlie reciprocal nature oftlie relationships that had developed as they had crossed tlie line to work witli aboriginal peoples on tlieir issues as tl~ey saw them. From Cape Croker. the Fretzs Aempliasized tlie new learning gained

...

including attitudes towards land and its use, and towards cl~ildren.'~ Meanwhile, as was mentioned earlier, from his position at tlie Ininew Friendship Centre in Cocliwie, Doug Roth insighfilly declared tliat the big task confronting Canada's native and European communities was tliat ofUbreaking down barriers." Indeed, MCCO began to see its role as"a repre- sentative of, md avoice for, voiceless and oppressed people." Finally, in 1980, the MCCO board proclaimed "native ministries" as a new area of focus.'"

Brealiing down Barriers

MCCO's decision to emp1iasize"native ministries" followed an increasing public awareness of aboriginal issues. Prime Minister Pierre T~udeau's patriation oftlie Constitution in the early 198Os, for instance, brought astrong response from aboriginal leaders. Altliougl~ the focus oftlie Constitution remained firmly on the provinces, Mennonites, along witli the other cliurclies, supported tlie native leaders who ~tntiringly brouglit to public attention how their riglits were being o~erlooked.~" In 1982, in response to the new Canadian constitution rati- fied by the federal government, MCCO created aNative Ministries program board and for tlie first tinie entered into formal dialogue witli aboriginal people. That fall, the Social Serv- ices Committee invited several Mennonite and native leaders to consult with them at Hidden Acres Retreat Centre.

Twenty chiefs, elders, community worliers and farmers travelled from northern and southe111 reservations toNew Hamburgto meet with MCCO personnel and board mem-

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Brenki~rg dolvrr Borrirrs: hlCC Olrfnrio orrd Orrfnrio A1oti~*e Conu~rrr~rities, 1967-1999 83

bers. Mennonite and Bretliren in Christ ministers, missionaries, university professors and other interested lay persons were also invited to tlie consultation. OjibwaCliief Franli Solo- mon from Cape Crolier aid Cree Chief Reg Louttit froni Attawapiskat, for instatice, stressed the need for assistance, business advice, education for youtli, and wildlife farni- indmanagernent. Meanwhile, others spolce of needs for eniploynient advice and training, along with help in dealing witli cultural disorientation, alienation and the isolatioli of urban society.

Reservations about "MCCO's involvement in native ministries as being too politica1,"by some oftlie Inore conservative in the constituency, were challenged by "the native leaders strong affirmation that not to be involved was also a political ~tatement."~' Menno Wiebe represented MCC Canada at the event. Wiebe stressed tliat tlie national orgartizition was strongly supportive oftlie native colnmunities in theirtransformation. Ontario Mennonites came away convinced that they, too, were responsible to support aboriginal concenis. In tliat spirit, delegates at tlie MCCO annual meeting that fall declared tlie Ontario Mennonite community to be in "solidarity witliNative people in the ~~pcoming constitution discussions.'"'

Tlle years following would be critical ones for aboriginal people in Canada. Three First Ministers' Conferences between 1982 and 1987, designed to negotiate how native self- government could be implemented, elided in failure. Yet, tliese were also significant events.

For one tliing. they tauglit the aboriginal community the inipoitance of leaniingto dialogue in European "political speak."33 Ontario Mennonites responded by underlining their support of the native community and by setting up an eiglit-member native concetns comniittee. Tlie new committee's niajor tasks would be to provide administrative counsel for MCC Volun- tary Service worliets in native communities, and to provide a link witli native bands east of Thunder Bay. The new committee declared its desire to "seek out ways of interpreting God's message of reconciliation in the context ofthe native community's needs and concerns in relation to the Canadian society."34 It went further, to recognize Mennonite complicity as a

"colonizingpeople" who had "lielp[ed] create the problenis of injustice." Comlnittee niem- bers called for "repentance" and vowed to attempt "to riglit any wrong where at all possi- ble."?

As MCCO named Native Concerns apriority, identity questions a r ~ s e . ~ " Was MCCO following MCC Canada, or was it its own cotnmittee? Wliat were its priorities? How could it reach out to Ontario native communities? These questions weave tlirougli committee reports as MCCO native concerns attempted to disceni its n~ission. Overtime, the focus would diifi from qicultural aid to educating the constituency. and finally to taking on advocacy

Tlie decision in early 1985 to hire Evan Heise. amember ofthe Brethren in Christ, as half-time staffperson (shared with Community Justice Ministries) rnarks a major shift in MCCO's approach to native concerns.3K Heise was able to make new contacts, including several on tlie nearby SisNations reserve an hour southeast of I<itcliener; he also connected further witli native leaders in tlie no~tli.~" Henionitored problems developing in tlie programs tliat MCCO had been sponsorilig in Attiwaspikat, Moose Factoly and Cape Crokel: Mihat did it mean, for instance, when some in these corninunities perceived MCC as helping only Treaty Indians, and others worried that the Mennonites were only attempting to get a foot- hold in orderto plant a cliurcl~?~' How slio~tld MCCO respond to situations like the political

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instability developing in Cape Croker, and the corresponding threat to the fanning project established some years earlier? What was their role, committee members asked tliem- selves? What was Heise's?"

Possibly the most significant developlnent was Native Concerns Ontario's increasing awareness oftlieir "limited knowledge and understanding ofCanadals native people."-" As volunteers at Cape Croker, Rene and Frances Van Mil, reported backto the annual meeting, day to day progress seemed minimal. Their real work was ill brealiing down barriers and in building relationsliips: "Our greatest joys here have been experienced in friendships and enjoytilent of social occasions witli all the richness of native ways and humour. We are always learni~igniore about the native culture, and the children have learned quite a lot ofthe language and heritage in ~chool.'"~

During the five years that Heise served as staff person, despite ongoing frustrations witli what seemed to be tiny advances in resolving the difficulties faced by native people, and oftti~nes poor communication with MCC Canada, solid relationships were built.J4 For instance. material aid directed to Walinepuhnud, a used clothing store in Toronto run by native women remanded to haining centres. expanded relationships in the urban domain?

Other opportunities arose tlirougli Mennonite Disaster Service. In the sunilner of 1986, for instance, when fifty people volunteered to rebuild tlie Cree comniunity ofweenisk, following massive deshuction during spring breakup on Hudson Bay, ongoing friendships developed. Committee nie~nbers accompanied Heise on follow-up visits to the new co~nniu~iity of2 15 families that liad relocated to Peawanuck, a traditional site twenty miles up river at the mouth oftlie Winisli.'" In 1987, at Heise's initiative, MDS also helped build a cotninunity hall in Wahgoshig, near the Kirkland Lake Bretliren in Christ Cliurch." With tlieir involvenient in these coniniunities, Heise and native concet-ns were also able to make tlie connections nec- essary to market indigenous crafts through Self-Help.4X Marketing such pieces as the Tamarack geese woven by artisans in nortlieni comlnunities proved to be a way to demon- strate "appreciation ofcultural values and personal skills oftlie producers."."

Under Heise's leadership, MCCO's Native Concenis committee also took risks. Mem- bers began taking a sta~id, moving from the more traditional hands on approach witli material aid to listening, standing with, and becoming more intentionally involved in advocacy. In spring 1986, Heise met witli Grand Chief Dennis Cro~narti oftlieNislinawbe Aski Nation to discuss concerns about the government's lack of responsibility emerging from the Fahlgren Report, tlie result oftlie Royal Commission oil tlieNortlierti Environment. He also shared theirjoy in the Crolnline report's "generous

...

interpretation" of tlie rights ofaboriginal peo-

~ l e . ~ " An elective seminar at MCCO's 1986 annual meeting, focussing on "Native Self- Govenitnent and Land Claims," gave Croniati and Regional Chief Gord Peters oftlie Chiefs of Ontario an opportunity to share with the broader Mennonite constituency tlieir liistoly of

"promises and broken treaties."

Ongoing support for the Teme-Augama Anislinabai (Bear Island Band) of Temagarni in tlieir precedent-setting case was a major focus oftlie committee's work. Insisting that they had occupied the land in nolth-eastern Ontario's Lake Tetiiagaiii region from time immemo- rial, the Anishnabai liad blocliaded the attempted ex%ension of a loging road into their motli- erland, in the summer of 1988. This action followed 15 years of lobbying the Ontario government, and was based on aboriginal title as spelled out in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

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The government sued the Anishnabai for their own lands. but it was a surprise to no one when the Supreme Court of Canada came down in Ontario's favour. MCC Ontario tool< the Anislinabai side when they stuck to their guns and refused tlie Ontario government's feeble attempts at a sett1ement.j'

As Native Concerns coniniittee chair Campbell Nisbet reported at the 1989 a~inual meeting, tlie Anishnabai were at the point where "'[tlhere just doesn't seem to be anything else leftto do."' He was quoting Chief Gary Potts, whom he had heard speak passionately of

"his

...

^people's1 10-year struggle for tlieir recognition oftheir claim to the land they have occupied for over GOO0 years."" Encouraging tlie MCCO Board to lobby tlie provincial and federal governments to "negotiate in good faith with the Tenie Augaua Anishnabai ...

with regard to their land claini

...

and further to recognize that the Tenie Augama Anishnabai have aright to ameaningful role in managing and preservingthe natural resources oftlieir traditional I~omela~d," they brought in a band spoltesperson to infomi the constituency oftlie issues around the land clai~n.'~ A letterto Ontario's premier David Peterson in rnid-January 1989 further emphasized MCCO's solidarity with native groups across Canada. who felt forced to adopt confiontational tactics.'-'

Despite dissent fiom the more cautious among them, h4CCO's native concerns coninlit- tee viewed the large numbers who came to their seminar as solid support for the direction they were taking." Resolvingtliat "Scripture calls us to stand with tlie dispossessed in their struggle for identity and dignity," and that "the aboriginal peoples ofCanada are a dispossessed people in our midst," tlie committee vowed to stand behind native calls for self- determination.'" Advisingthe Ontario board to stand with aboriginal people in their negotia- tions to be included in the constitution, they also followed MCC Canada's lead in joining the Project North Coalitioli ofCli~~rclies. Representatives fioni Ontario also participated in tallis with theirprovincial government leaders. On the local scene. initiatives included those with Weejeedimin. I<itchenerls Native Resources Centre. and Native Sons. a person to person visitation prog-atn at Guelph conectional centre.

The shift fioni doing, to standing with, is reflected in MCCO Native Concerns chairper- soti Anna Wiens's report to tlie 1988 annual meeting. Quoting Australian Aboriginal Lilla Watson, Wiens highlighted the comniitlee's movement fiotn breaking down barriers to becoming aboriginal neighbouts:

If you arc come to help me you are wasting your time.

But

if you have come

because your liberation is bound up \vith mine.

then let us \vorl; t ~ g e t h e r . ~ '

Aboriginal Neighours

Rick Cober Bauman's words, as he accepted an appointment in 1992 as filll-time MCCO native concerns staffperson, futther illustrate this shift in relationship and a gro\ving

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awareness ofthe issues: "In tlie middle ofthe eigliteentli century, 'an Indian,' led my ances- tor, Jacob Bauman, further in the Pennsylvania interior, helped liim build a cabin, and invited him to bring his wife and child." His next words were more startling: "A few years later Jacob's brothers followed, and the flood of settlers continued to roll westward."jx Now facing their complicity in the contemporary native dilemma, through the 1990s, MCCO became increasingly intentional in its advocacy, as tlie tensions in aboriginal communities escalated.

In the attempt to better understand the land claims issues to wliich their aboriginal neighbours were urgingtliem to respond, in fall 1990, MCCO commissioned returned VSer Beth Brubacher to research "the status of Treaty Land Entitlement in 0ntario."j9 That kl1 also, six of MCCO's nine-member committee travelled to Cape Crokerto participate in the Ontario Assenibly sponsored by the band and the Aboriginal Riglits Coalition (Project North)."" But most significantly, when Heise resigned from his half-time position asNative Concerns staff person that fall to pursue graduate studies, the committee lobbied for a full-time worker:' Lisa Scliirch-Elias, arecent graduate in Political Studies and Peace St~tdies accepted atwo- year VS assignment. Then in 1992, wlieil Rick Cober Bau~nan and his wife Louise returned from a three-year assignment in Slieshatsl~it, Nitassinan where they had served among the Innu in Labrador/Newfoundland, lie tookup the position. Schirch-Elias and Bauman would continue the direction Heise had set in moving away from development to focussing on relationship building and advocacy."?

A highlight of MCCO's connection with tlie Saugeen Ojibway at Cape Croker was tlie celebration in 1993 of a "precedent-setting" victory. Saugeen fishermen and Kitchener- Waterloo Mennonites and United Church folks enjoyed a potluck supper ofwhitefisli and salads, stories and friendship at the Preston Mennonite Church in Cambridge, only days before the Ministry ofNatural Resources passed a precedent-setting new ruling: "Native fishing, wliether subsistence or commercial, would be given first priority after the need to conserve a healthy fish stock had been met."" Meanwhile, MCCO's native concerns program also expanded to include anorthem office in Timmins. Job Koeneand Lyndsay Mollins, from Willowdale Presbyterian Church in Toronto, joined the staffand continued the focus on relationship-building in their respective positions with the Ojibway-Cree Cultural Centre in Tiininins and Youth Programme Coordinator witli Kunuwanaimano Child and Family Serv- ice~.'~ This victory, and the strengthening ofrelationships in avariety of aboriginal communities, were soon to be oversliadowed, however, by what is arguably the most tragic event to date in the modem history of aboriginal-white relations.

In October 1995 during a stand-in at Ippenvasli, on the shore of Lake Huron, tliirty- eight year old Dudley George was shot and killed by a member ofthe Ontario Provincial Police. Out oftlieir several year long relationship witli the Chippewaand Potawatomi people oftlie Stony Point Reserve, MCCO attempted to supporttlie grieving family and communities involved with the dispute. MCC Canada had been standing witli the Lubicon in Alberta's

interior, the Moliawkat Oka, Quebec, and defenders ofthe Shusliwap nation at Gustafson Lake in British Columbia, all cases where aboriginal people had put their bodies on the line to resist further encroacliment on their land. In like manner, MCC Ontario supported their aboriginal neighbours at Ippenvash, whom the federal government had expelled from Stoney Point fifty years earlier during World War 11, to construct a military training centre on their

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Breakirrg do~vrr Barriers: AlCC 011tnrio arrd Orrtario Nnli~fe Corr~rr~rrrrities, 1967-1999 87

land." A s Bauman reported to the MCCO annual meeting the following year, the repercus- sions of Dudley George's tragic death were widespread: "It has been painful," he stressed,

"to watch the craclcs and fissures that split the various parts oftliis comn~unity along lines of race, reserve, [and] fa~nily."'~

Two years earlier MCCO had reminded the federal government's Department of lndian Affairs to follow through on its standing committee's 1992 recommendation that the land be returned to its fonner inhabitants. Now in the wake oftragedy, Mennonites supplied food and joined Observer Teanis at the conflict site. The committee also planned "meet-your- neighbour" events and encouraged local churches to stand with their native sisters and brotli- ers, in tlie attempt to bring healing in tlie aftermath of George's death." In an open letter to the grieving fanily and community, Bauman wrote:

For several years we have listened, watched, and tried to add our voice to yours. as you worked for the return of the Stoney Point lands taken by our Department of Defence in 1941. As we heard your stories, we glimpsed the pain and chaos felt by families uprooted from their homes 50 years ago. We also came to appreciate the co~nmitment many felt to seeing the land restored to those who call it honie. That a young man should lose his life in this commitment is a tragedy \vhose roots go much deeper than the present standoff at Ipperwash.

Like you, our people have mixed and conflicting feelings this morning. We feel confused about land claims. and occupations and blockades. We wonder why choices were made that led to such aviolent act. Yet we also recognize the profound frustration felt by too many in your communities. and ackno\vledge that this frustration cannot be dealt with by police action.

We are making a hopeful and a prayerful plea to all parties to reject the power of the gun. and to commit thenlselves to the power of honest and patient dialogue .... We too long for an end to confrontation. We are committed to seeing the Department of Defence return the Stoney Point land to your people. But more than that. wc long for a new relationship between us, the newcomers. and you who welcomed us here.6n

The Mennonite community's response suggests that they recognized with former chief justice Brian Dickson, who organized the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples whose report came out the year following George's death, that "the aboriginal riglits issue is the most pressing human rights issue facing Canada today."" Mennonite support was symbol- ized by relationships nourished by summer gardener John Unible, the women from Zurich Mennonite church who joined George's sister Caroline in puttingtogether a quilt, and those who potlucked with mourners on tlie beach ofthe Huron River as they listened "to the drum during a one-year rnemorial for Dudley Ge~rge."~"

The Ontario Mennonite community increasingly saw themselves asL'Aboriginal Neigh- bours," as is synibolized by the new name that MCCO native concerns committee took in 1997. "Aboriginal Neighbours," with its "Northern Neighbours" counterpart expanded to include several members from the communities where Mennonites Iiad been developing relationships for over fifteen years. For instance, Greg Nadjiwon from Cape Croker, Marcie Simon from Stoney Point, Lorna McNaughton from Ohsweken and Carol Cooper from

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Waterloo, agreed to lend tlieir expertise to MCCO tliat same year.7'

Altliougl~ we are too close in clironological time to critically assess Mennonite-Aborigi- nal relations in Ontario from the perspective of history, as historian Kenneth Coates has pointed out. "these are

...

important times for historians of First Nations in Canada." With 'The growing political empliasis on First Nations' demands, claims, a i d public statements - a process that began in earnest in the 1970s and tliat escalated steadily tl~ereafter,"~? the stages of growth in the relationships between Mennonites and aboriginal people in Ontario are wort11 noting. Initially, MCCO moved cautiously, in response to aboriginal calls for attention to injustices. and tlieir demands tliat past wrongs be righted. Crossing the lines drawn by government officials, wliicli separated native people from their laid when they were assigned reservations, was a first step as Ontario Mennonites erideavoured to discover what justice meant. Atteriipts at building relationsliips and mending broken trust have included listening, and accepting aboriginal leaders' admonitions tliat to truly break down barriers, Mennonites must become political, tliat Mennonites must sliow their conimitment to justice by standing with them. It lias meant recogiizing. to use Olive Dickason's words, tliat "far from being a flash i l l the pan," these conflicts have "roots tliat go deep into our national past."73

Later generations of liistoriais will look back, and attempt to interpret what Mennonite efforts at brealiing down the barriers of broken trust, ignorance and hostility have contrib-

~ited to aboriginal-white relations in the last third oftlie tweiitieth century. Meanwhile, 011- tal-io Mennonites. as the 1999 Aborigirial Neiglibours mission statement suggests: continue to "looli formoments, windows, opportunities to help build relationships between First peoples, and O L I ~ people,

...

MrOrli [ii~g] together in evelytliing fiom resolution ofoutstanding laid issues, to growing food

Notes

'

Reginald Good. "lvlississauga-Me~i~onite Relations in the Upper Grand River Valley." O17tarro HIJIOIJ.S~ (June 1997). 176.

David T. McNab. "Aboriginal Land Claims in Ontario." indborigir7al Lar~dClaitrw ir~ Carwda: A Rcgior7al Perspecth~e, edited by Kenneth Coates (Do11 Mills: Copp Clark Pitnian, 1992). 75.

' hlennonite Central Committee Ontario (hereafter. MCCO), Annual Reports, l9S 1. Mennonite His- torical Archives ofOntario (hereafter MHAO).

Olive Dickason. Ca17ada i First iVatiot7s: ,A his tor^, of Fo1117dirlg Peoplesfio~rl Earliest Eriles, 2""

edition (Toronto: Oxford U~iiversity Press. 1997). 380.

Peggy Brock, "Building Bridges: Politics and Religion in a First Nations Cornmunit):" Ca17adiar7 Historical Rei~ielv S 1 (2000). 68: Jennifer S. H. Bro\vn and Elizabeth Vibert. Readirlg Beyor7d U'ords:

Co17tests.for h'ariiv his tor^^ (Peterboro~~gli, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1996). sv.

" McNab. "Aboriginal Land Claims in Ontario," 73.

' Dickason. Car7ada $ Firsr 1Vatio17s. 362

".R. Miller. SX?~scrapers Hide tile Heuilerls: A Histor?. of 117diar7-l,l%ite Relatior7s ir7 Carlado (Toronto: University of Toronto Press). 249.

" Dickason. Car7ada S First h'otior7s, 361.

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Brealiir~g ~loivrr Barriers: hiCC Orrtario and Olttnrio Native Corrortr~rrities, 1967-1999 89

"' TIie Catiadiati A~.leritionite 15.26 (27 June 1967), I.

' I Tile Cariadiari A/let71iotiite 15.49 ( 12 December 1967), I.

"

Frank Epp, Parfriers ill Se~-vice: the stoly ofA.leririoriite Ceritral Co~tirt~ittee Car~ada (Winnipeg:

Mennonite Central Committee Canada 1982). 26; MCCO Annual Reports, 1967, MHAO..

"

MCCO, Annual Reports, 1968, MHAO.

" David Alan Long, "Trials of the Spirit: The Native Social Movenient in Canada." in I kioris ofthe

Heart: Cat~adiati Aborigi~ial lsslies, edited by Long and Olive P. Dickason (Toronto: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1996), 379-80; Dickason, First Natiariss. 363-64.

'j Miller, Shyscrapers Hide the Hea~leris, 249-50.

'"eo Driedger and Donald Kraybill, Aler7riotiite Peacer~ia~i~lg: Fro111 Qitietisni to .-lctivistn (Scottdale, Pa. and Kitchener, Ontario: Herald Press, 1994), 150.

l 7 MCCO Native Concerns Minutes (20 February 1990). lioused at tile Mennonite Central Commit-

tee Ontario headquarters at 50 Kent Ave. Icitchener (hereafter MCCO headquarters): See also tile insert entitled "Indian Bulletin" in Tlie Cariadia~i A~letitioriite 17; 16 (22 April 1969) \lrhich included articles such as "The Cllurch and the Original Canadians;" and "What can we do?" See also John A. Lapp, "The Peace Mission of the Mennonite Central Comniittee." hletitio~iite Qi~arterly Revieic. 44 (1 970). 784 and Frank 1-1. Epp, Parftiers iri Set-vice.

' W C C O , Annual Reports. 1975.1976, MHAO.

I" Epp. Parttiers iti Setvice, 40.

"' MCCO, Annual Reports, 1978, MHAO.

"

MCCO, Annual Reports, 1970,197 1, MHAO.

"

Ray Schlegel, interviewed by Linda Huebert Heclit and Laurene Harder, 31 October 1997, New

Hamburg, Ontario: MCCO, Annual Reports. 1979: MHAO: for fu~ther inforniation on the Iiistory ofthe 0.jibwa at Cape Croker. please see Peter Sclimalz's Tl~e Ojibll~a of Souther77 Otifario (University of Toronto Press, 1991 ). MCCO. Annual Reports, 1982.1983, MHAO; MCCO Service Section minutes (I?

May 1982). MCCO headquarters.

"

Margaret Conrad and Alvin Finkel with Cornelius Jaenen. History of /11e Catiudiati Peoples, vol.

I (Don Mills: Copp Clark, 1998), 1 I.

?' Waubageshig (Harvey McCue), ed.. The 017/y Good Itidiat~: Essaj.s by Cat7adiati Iridiaris (To- ronto, 1970), 126: quoted in Schmalz, The Ojibi~~a ofSozitlierti Otifario. 244; Sclimalz also notes on p. 258 that Basil Johnston, a member of the Nawash band, tells stories of his people in hidiari School Days (Toronto, 1988) and Ojibicra Heritage (Toronto, 1967).

"

Dave Worth to John Nadjiwon (I 0 September 1979); Nadjiwon to Worth (4 October 1979) Aborigi-

nal Neiglibours files, 1979, MCCO headquarters.

'

G Worth to Cape Croker Committee (20 September 1979); Menno Wiebe to Dave Wortli (7 February 1980); CapeCroker Minutes (16 April 1980). Aboriginal Neiglibours files. MCCO headquarters: MCCO.

Annual Reports, 1980, MHAO.

'

7 MCCO, Annual Reports, 1980, MIHAO.

2K MCCO, Annual Reports. 1981, MI-IAO.

"'Ron Lofthouse to Nadjiwon (24 September 1980). Aboriginal Neigl~bours files, MCCO headquarters: MCCO. Annual Reports, 1980, MHAO.

'"

Margaret Conrad and Alvin Finkel, his tot^^ ofthe Cariadiari People. vol. 11 (Don Mills: Copp

Clark, 1998), 471 -72; See Tlie Ca~iadiati A.le~aloriite for discussion of aboriginal rights and tlie constitution, for esample, Neil Unrau. "Aboriginal Rights: Government policies contradict constitutional rheto- ric," (8 June 1981 ). 10; Menno Wiebe, "The Church in the native setting: A biblicalltl1eologica1 reflec;

tion," 12, 16 (9 August 1982).

Dickason, Carladas First Natiar?s, 422, n. 27; MCCO Annual Reports, 1981, MIHAO; Report:

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MCCO Consultation on Native Ministries, Service Section Miriutes (February 1983), MCCO headquarters.

I' Ron Lofiliouse and Mennonite Reporter staff, "Stand with us plead native leaders," iCleririor7ire Re,ttorter 12.25 ( I3 December 1982). I .

''

Dickason. Car7ada b First A'aiior7s. 386; I an1 also grateful to students in niy Native Aspects of Canada's History seminar at Augustana University College for their insights on these meetings during discussions of tlie National Film Board's version in "Dancing around the Table," directed by Maurice Bulhulian and produced by Raymond Gauthier. 1987.

'A MCCO Service Section minutes (February 1983), MCCO headquarters.

"

'-'Guidelines for Working with Native Coniniunities." MCCO Native Concerns Coniniittee Min-

utes (26 June 1984). MCCO headquarters.

"' MCCO Native Concerns Coniniittee Minutes ( 3 Noventher 1983), MCCO headquarters,

3 i See. for instance. MCCO Native Concerns Committee Minutes (3 1 May 1983.3 Noveniber 1983,

12 January 1984) regarding conflicts between MCCC and MCCO, MCCO headquarters,

' W C C O Native Concenis Conimittee Minutes (3 June 1985,5 November 1985), MCCO headquarters: MCCO Annual Reports. 1986. MHAO.

'"

Evan I-leise. '-Native Concenis Committee staff report to MCCO Board." Native Concer~is Coni-

mittee Ontario Minutes (November 1985): Report to Native Concerns Coniniittee meeting ( I 0 February 1986). MCCO headquarters,

"'A Model for tlie James Bay Area. MCCO Service Section Minutes (1978. 1979) (2 March 1983):

Ron Lofiliouse, Northern Trip Report, MCCO Service Section Minutes (27 November-3 December 1983), MCCO headquarters.

-" MCCO Native Concerns Conimittee Minutes (3 November 1983), MCCO headquarters,

-" MCCO Annual Reports. 1984. MHAO.

." MCCO Annual Reports. 1985. M HAO.

'-I MCCO Native Concerns Committee Minutes (6 June 1988): MCCO headquarters.

." MCCO Native Concerns Committee Minutes (26 June 1986,9 February 1987,20 July 1988),

MCCO headquarters: MCCO Annual Reports. 1986, MIHAO.

.'I' Evan I-leise. Report to NCC and MDS contact people, MCCO Native Concerns Conimittee Min-

utes ( 6 August 1986); Anne Wiens. Pea\laanuk Revisited. MCCO Native Concenis Coniniittee Minutes (6 September 1989). MCCO lieadquarters.

MCCO Native Concenis Committee Minutes (9 February 1987), MCCO headquarters.

Staff Report. Native Concenis Committee Minutes (3 January 1985: 20 May 1986), MCCO Iiead- quarters: MCCO Annual Reports. 1986. MI-IAO.

-'" MCCO Annual Reports. 1987. MHAO: MCCO Native Concerns Conimittee (20July 1988), MCCO

lieadquarters.

j" MCCO Native Concerns Committee Minutes (20 May 1986,26 June 1986,9 February 1987,20 July

1988. MCCO headquarters: MCCO Annual Reports, 1986, MHAO.

jl MCCO Annual Reports. 1989: MHAO; McNab. "Aboriginal Land Clainis in Ontario," 80-85.

j' MCCO Annual Reports. 1989. MIHAO.

'' MCCO Nat~ve Concelns Comni~ttee Mlnutes ( I 9 Noveniber 1988.4 January 1989. 18 January 1989), MCCO headquarters. MCCO Annual Reports. 1989, MHAO.

MCCO Annual Reports. 1989. MHAO

jj MCCO Native Concenis Conimittee Minutes (2 December 1986), MCCO headquarters.

' W C C O Native Concerns Coniniittee Minutes (5 November 1986), MCCO headquarters; Ferne Burkliardt, "Native Self-Deterniination," Aderirio~irte Reporter 16.23 (24 Noveniber 1986), 4.

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Breoliirrg rlo~vrr Barriers: hlCC Orrtnrio arrd Orrrorio Nolive Cortrrrrrrtrilies, 1967-1999 9 1

j7 MCCO Native Concerns Committee Minutes (6 June 1988). MCCO headquarters.

jH MCCO Annual Reports. 1992.1991. MHAO.

j ' MCCO Native Concerns Comniittee Minutes (fill1 1990): Bruno Baergon Treaty Land Entitlement

(28 November 1990). Aboriginal Neighbours files, 1990, MCCO headquarters.

"'A/eririor~ite Repor?er 20.19 (1 October 1990). 5: MCCO Annual Reports, 1990: hIHAO.

''I MCCONative Concerns Committee Minutes (January 1990. I2 May 1990): Rick Cober Bauman to Conlmission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System. 28 October 1993; Aboriginal Neiglibours files. 1993, MCCO headquarters; MCCO Annual Reports. 1990, MHAO.

"

Bruno Baerg to Treaty Land Entitlement. 28 November 1990. Aboriginal Neiglibours files. 1990:

Schirch-Eiias to pastors of churches of Native Concerns Co~iirnittee Ontario. April 199 1: Scliircli-Elias, Reflections on my Visit to Wahgosliig. 22-24 July 1991 : Visit to Peawanuck, 79-30 July 199 1. Aboriginal Neiglibours files. 1990-91. MCCO headquarters: MCCO Annual Reports. 1991. MHAO.

"

MCCONative Concerns Committee. Correspondence \\tit11 Ontario re: Sauzeen Ojihway Fishing:

Adding our Voice. Aboriginal Neiglibours files ( 1993). MCCO headquarters,

'" MCCO Annual Reports. 1993: 1995.1996.1999. MHAO.

"j Rick Cober Bauman: "Violence at Ippen\rasli: One Year Later.'. Aferi~ioriite Reporfer26.20 (14

October 1996). 1,s: A-leririoriite Reporter26,24 (9 December 1996). 7: Dickasoti. Carlado b First Xu- tior~s. 399400.

'" MCCO Annual Reports: 1996. MHAO.

''7 MCCO Board Chair to Minister of Indian Affairs. 30 Septeniber 1993: Baunian to MCCO Esecu- tive, 6 May 1993, Aboriginal Neiglibours files. 1993. MCCO headquarters: MCCO Annual Reports, 1995. MIHAO.

Bauman, "Dear Friends at Stoney Point and Kettle Point." A/er?r?orii/e Reporter25. 18 (August 18.1995). 7.

"" A,ler~rior~ite Reporter26.24 (9 Deceniher 1996). 2.

MCCO Annual Reports. 1996. MI-IAO.

7 1 All Our Neiglrbours (November 1997). MCCO headquarters.

7' Kenneth Coates. "Writing First Nations into Canadian Histoy: A Revie\\' of Recent Scholarly Works." Cariadiari Historical Rei-ieiv 8 1 (2000). 99.

7: Olive Dickason, "To\vard a Larger Vie\\,of Canada's I-listoy: Tlie Native Factor." in f7siorls ofllie Heart. edited by Long and Dickason. 7.

74 Tlie goals ofAboriginal Neigllbours areoutlined in the MCCO Annual Report. 1999. MI-IAO.