Fort William’s oldest citizen presented with Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Award
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Fort William Elder Evelyn Banning was presented with her Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 28 by Regional Deputy Grand Council Chief Ed Wawia at her home in Thunder Bay. Wawia had accepted the award on behalf of Banning, who is 94-years-old, during the Anishinabek Nation 7th Generation Charity’s Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony on Aug. 14 in Chippewas of Rama First Nation.
“I think she was the oldest recipient to ever receive the award,” Wawia says, noting she is currently the oldest Fort William citizen. “It was a very exciting time — I think she got the loudest applause of everybody that received the awards that night once I said she was 94-years-old. It was a very good occasion and now I am very happy to present it to her.”
The Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year to recognize and bring awareness to Anishinabek citizens who have made a lifetime commitment to improving the quality of life on First Nations.
“We always knew she had been a riveter back when Canadian Car [and Foundry, now owned by Bombardier Transportation] was working on the airplanes for [World War II],” says Lynda Banning, one of Evelyn’s daughters and FASD regional program worker with the Anishinabek Nation. “She met my dad after he returned from the war and they got married and she worked with him to memorialize for [Indigenous] veterans up on Mt. McKay. She volunteered for Red Cross making shirts and things to go overseas, so she always was active in the community throughout our lives when she could.”
Banning was one of the Rosie the Riveters who stepped forward to work in factories to produce munitions and war supplies for the war effort during World War II.
“She was able to make some purchases as a young single woman — she bought a raccoon fur coat and lots of nice dresses, so we always heard about that time of her life,” Lynda says. “She was able to live in her own little apartment and pack her lunch and head over to Canadian Car and work all day. I don’t think that was common among women at the time, so it was something very different because they needed the women. But then when the war was over, the men all came back and filled the positions and the women were out of their jobs.”
Banning married Francis Banning in 1945 and raised a family of 11 children, seven boys and four girls, first on City Rd. in Fort William and later on Brodie St. in Thunder Bay.
“She was a stay-at-home mom,” says Gloria Zeleny, another one of Evelyn’s daughters. “We always had the same thing every day of the week, like on Sunday we would have roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, the whole nine yards. And then on Saturday we would have sausages and boiled potatoes and creamed corn, and fish on Friday.”
Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Awards were also presented during the awards ceremony to Wayne Beaver, from Alderville; Leland Bell, from Wiikwemkoong; Shirley Cheechoo; Chief Patsy Corbiere, from Aundeck Omni Kaning; Mary Jane Fraser, from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek; Brandy George, from Kettle and Stony Point; A. Leona Irons, from Curve Lake; Evelyn McLeod, from Nipissing; Gert Nootchtai, from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek; Cecilia Pitawanakwat, from Wiikwemkoong; Beverly Restoule, from Dokis; Geraldine Robertson, from Aamjiwnaang; Chief Kirby Whiteduck, from Algonquins of Pikwakanagan; and Paul Chris and Catherine Chiarelli. The Debwewin Citations Award was presented to Vince and Anita Chechok, from Wasauksing.