{"id":78042,"date":"2025-11-04T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=78042"},"modified":"2025-11-04T07:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T12:38:56","slug":"robinson-huron-waawiindamaagewin-expresses-concern-caution-over-inclusion-of-mno-representation-at-upcoming-painted-hand-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/robinson-huron-waawiindamaagewin-expresses-concern-caution-over-inclusion-of-mno-representation-at-upcoming-painted-hand-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin Expresses Concern & Caution Over Inclusion Of MNO Representation At Upcoming Painted Hand Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin (RHW) leadership expresses deep concern regarding the \u201cPainted Hand Ceremony\u201d being organized for November 7-8 at the Delta Waterfront Hotel in Sault Ste. Marie. RHW continues to object to claims made by the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario (MNO) regarding territory and historic communities.<\/div>\n
\nWe urge the public to be aware that the “ceremony” features MNO political figures who have consistently presented misleading and inaccurate historical and cultural narratives that negatively impact RHW Anishinabek.<\/div>\n
The MNO\u2019s repeated focus\u00a0on\u00a0the Mica\u00a0Bay incident, falsely suggests\u00a0historical alliances\u00a0or treaty relationships\u00a0between “a distinct M\u00e9tis people and the Anishinaabe.”\u00a0However, our research indicates that\u00a0the\u00a0two\u00a0“half-breeds\u201d who were arrested alongside Chiefs\u00a0Shingwaukonse and Nebenagoching for their leadership at Mica Bay \u2014\u00a0Charles Boyer and\u00a0Pierre Lesage \u2014 became treaty beneficiaries as Anishinabek. They were each married to one of Chief\u00a0Shingwaukonse\u2019s granddaughters, Ang\u00e9lique Cyrette and Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Tegosh, respectively. As such, Charles Boyer’s and Pierre Lesage’s descendants lived at local Anishinabek First Nations for generations.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pierre Lesage\u00a0continued\u00a0to be an Anishinabek leader when he signed a land surrender that took place in 1872 on behalf of Garden River First Nation as a Principal Man. Our research also demonstrates that\u00a0at least two\u00a0of\u00a0his\u00a0descendants not only lived as Anishinabek but became elected leaders. For example, Charles Boyer had at least ten descendants over three generations (1876-1980) who were elected at Batchewana First Nation (BFN), Mississauga First Nation (MFN), Garden River First Nation (GRFN), and Michipicoten First Nation (Michipicoten).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Overall, four Boyer descendants were elected chief for a combined 53 years at BFN, MFN, and Michipicoten and seven Boyer descendants were elected councillors for a combined 56 years at BFN. GRFN, and MFN. Pierre Lesage\u2019s son Joseph Peter Lesage was an elected councillor at BFN from 1905-1915 & 1922-1926 and his younger son Moses was an elected councillor at BFN from 1939-45.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We have no doubt that Charles Boyer and Pierre Lesage were significant members of the regional Anishinabek people during their lifetimes and that their descendants have continued that tradition. There is still countless\u00a0number of Charles\u00a0Boyer and\u00a0Pierre\u00a0Lesage’s\u00a0descendants living in Robinson Huron First Nations today. Neither they, nor their descendants, were ever part of a distinct M\u00e9tis people in our territory.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Finally, we caution that\u00a0a similar\u00a0ceremony took place in Serpent River in 2015\u00a0that is being\u00a0used by the MNO\u00a0as \u201cevidence\u201d of\u00a0a\u00a0treaty relationship with the Anishinabek Nation.\u00a0Nothing could be further from the truth.\u00a0These events are based in cultural and ceremonial practices from Cree, Nakoda, and Saulteaux territories in the Prairies provinces and simply do not apply to our territory.\u00a0No such treaty ever existed between Robinson Huron First Nations and the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We are the original people of this land to which Gichi Manidoo has granted us Minigoziwin (inherent rights\/sovereignty), Debendiziwin (the right to govern ourselves), Ndaakiimnaan (land) and Gichi Naakinagewin (Our laws). \u00a0The rights and responsibilities given to us by GichiManidoo cannot be altered or taken away by any colonizers or foreign government. We have, and always had, our own governments which is the only recognized and legitimate authority with jurisdiction over Ndaakiimnaan.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin (RHW) leadership expresses deep concern regarding the \u201cPainted Hand Ceremony\u201d being organized for November 7-8 at the Delta Waterfront Hotel in Sault Ste. Marie. RHW continues to object to claims made by the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario (MNO) regarding territory and historic communities. We urge the public to be aware that the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":60634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 08:22:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78043,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78042\/revisions\/78043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}