Latest in series Early Jesuit Missions in Canada is launched
Letters from Manitoulin Island: 1853-1870, the latest in the now 22 volume series Early Jesuit Missions in Canada, was presented at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M'Chigeeng, Manitoulin Island, Ontario.
With co-translator Shelley Pearen, Fr. Bill Lonc introduced this series of letters, originally written in French by Jesuit missionary priests Lorenzo Cadieux, Robert Toupin, and others. This is the first time the letters have been published in either French or English.
Before an audience of fascinated residents of Manitoulin, the co-translators spoke of some of the issues discussed in the letters. The Jesuits of the mid-nineteenth century were pre-occupied with the well-being of the people of Wikwemikong, and the small settlements across the Island and surrounding shores. During the years covered, treaties would be signed with the government setting up 'reserves' for many small communities of native peoples, including M'Chigeeng. Of course, this is also the period when—famously—Wikwemikong would refuse to enter into a treaty, thus remaining to this day Canada's only 'unceded territory.'
All available copies of the new volume were snapped up at the launch, plus of the two previous volumes covering earlier decades, and more are on order.
For more information about the history of M'Chigeeng, visit the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie Web site: http://mchigeeng.diocesessm.org/about/
Fr. Bill Lonc, Shelley Pearen, and Alan Corbiere, director of the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. Fr. Lonc is the General Editor of the series Early Jesuit Missions in Canada and Shelley Pearon is a Manitoulin historian currently working on another book about Manitoulin treaties.
Mary Rose and Al Shawana of Wikwemikong talking with Daniel Spotswood, n.sj, a Jesuit novice from Oregon Province at the launch.
Daniel Spotswood on the bluff overlooking M'Chigeeng
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