Pelletier receives ‘Honouring Our Men’ recognition
By Rick Garrick
Fort William Elder Leonard Pelletier received an Honouring Our Men Recognition Award on National Aboriginal Day at the new Mt. McKay Pow-Wow grounds.
“It’s an honour to be here on this day to represent the Elders — to be here on National Aboriginal Day is something special,” Pelletier says. “I had little shivers up my spine. It was thrilling.”
A former Fort William chief, Pelletier supported hockey players in his community over the years as a coach and is currently a member of the Elder’s Council at Lakehead University.
“I’ve been involved in hockey for years,” Pelletier says. “I coached my kids and from there on I was involved with Native hockey tournaments all across Ontario. I got involved in minor hockey again in my later years and I coached my grandkids.”
Pelletier was selected as a Pan Am Games co-chair for his community, where he was the first Pan Am Games torchbearer during the torch’s first stop outside of host city Toronto. He carried the torch along the Mount McKay Scenic Lookout at 6 a.m. before passing it on a youth torchbearer.
“The sun was coming up over the Sleeping Giant — it was a very good setting,” Pelletier says. “We did our ceremony on the ledge facing the Sleeping Giant. And then we went into the Pow-Wow grounds — that was where the torch was first lit. I did a short run to the ledge, where I transferred it to the younger generation and they ran it to the wooden statue on the mountain.”
Pelletier worked at Canada Malting on the Thunder Bay waterfront for 33-and-a-half years, where he earned his trade as an electrician.
“I was fortunate enough to retire early,” Pelletier says. “Being an electrician, I still am involved in the trade and doing electrical work. After retiring early, I went into commercial electrical work for an electrical company for 16-and-a-half years.”
Pelletier now provides guidance to his family and support for his daughter, who has spina-bifida. Pelletier’s motto is stick with it, be stubborn, don’t give up just because something is hard.
Pelletier first learned he would be honoured about a week before the June 21 award ceremony, where seven Aboriginal men were recognized for honouring and living the teachings of the Seven Grandfathers: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility and Truth. The awards also recognized the important role the men play in supporting Aboriginal cultures in the Thunder Bay area.
The other award recipients were two youth, Josh Sinoway and Gabe Picard; three adults, Marc Laliberte, Oliver Rusnak and John Dixon; and Elder Gene Nowegejick.
Once Pelletier and the other award recipients received their honourary jackets and award certificates, they lined up along the perimeter of the Pow-Wow grounds with all of the other men present. Then the women — wives, daughters, sisters and friends of the men — stood in the middle, where they retrieved fire bags to present to the men after receiving a teaching from an Elder. Once the men received their fire bags, an honour song was sung for all the men.